Publications

August 2012 (Revised December 2023)
Background Note

Note on Health Insurance Coverage, Coding, and Payment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Jo Ellen Slurzberg

This note explains how health care technology and service innovators receive payment from government insurers, in the U.S. and abroad, and from private insurers. It describes each of the three steps needed to obtain reimbursement: coverage, coding, and payment. It also... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Delivery; Health Care Costs; Health Insurance; Health Insurance Marketplaces; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Insurance; Innovation and Invention; Private Sector; Public Sector; Decision Making; Information Technology; Health Industry; Health Industry

Article

Sustainability, Business, and Health

By: George Serafeim, Amanda M. Rischbieth and Howard K. Koh

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has demonstrated that response demands involvement from every sector of society. As a major example, some businesses have stepped up in ways previously unimaginable. Garment companies have repurposed production to face... View Details

Keywords: COVID; COVID-19; Sustainability; Health And Wellness; Corporate Social Responsibility; Health Pandemics; Health; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment

Find at Harvard

September 2023 (Revised September 2024)
Technical Note

Measuring and Managing Social Impact

By: Brian Trelstad, Gerald Chertavian and Susan Pinckney

A brief overview of how to measure social impact at nonprofits, social organizations, and impact investments. View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Change; Transformation; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Forecasting and Prediction; Public Sector; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Fairness; Entrepreneurial Finance; Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Policy; Innovation and Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Measurement and Metrics; Standards; Strength and Weakness; Mission and Purpose; Success; Performance; Performance Evaluation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Strategic Planning; Programs; Risk and Uncertainty; Social Enterprise; Non-Governmental Organizations; Social Issues; United States

February 2021
Case

Measuring Impact at JUST Capital

By: Charles C.Y. Wang and Ethan Rouen

JUST Capital is a nonprofit organization that seeks to make public companies more "just" by measuring and ranking their overall impact on society, based on the priorities most important to the average American. This case examines JUST's strategy for influencing... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Ethics; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Evaluation; Social Issues; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

May 2014
Case

Health Care Accountability: Examples in Cancer Treatment

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Natalie Kindred

This case is designed to support a discussion of the importance of outcomes evidence in empowering the public to make better health care decisions, the desired level of transparency and accountability for health care providers, and the issues with current measuring and... View Details

Keywords: Accountability; Health Care; Cancer; Cancer Treatment; Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center; Cancer Treatment Centers Of America; Vantage Oncology; Radiology; Risk Adjustment; Treatment Outcomes; Health Care Outcomes; Prostate Cancer; Transparency; Health Care and Treatment; Risk Management; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; United States

1 PM – 2 PM EDT, 17 Sep 2015
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Risk of Unfunded Public Pension Fund and Health Care Benefits in the US

Detroit is the canary in the coal mine on the issue of unfunded pension and health care liabilities. Had the city not declared bankruptcy, it was projected that 67% of every incremental revenue dollar would have been allocated to these legacy benefits by 2017. Yet even... View Details

July 2018
Article

Reimagining Health Data Exchange: An Application Programming Interface-Enabled Roadmap for India

By: Satchit Balsari, Alexander Fortenko MD, MPH, Joaquin A. Blaya PhD, Adrian Gropper MD, Malavika Jayaram LLM, Rahul Matthan LLM, Ram Sahasranam, Mark Shankar MD, Suptendra N. Sarbadhikari PhD, Barbara Bierer, Kenneth D. Mandl MD, Sanjay Mehendale MD, MPH and Tarun Khanna

In February 2018, the Government of India announced a massive public health insurance scheme extending coverage to 500 million citizens, in effect making it the world’s largest insurance program. To meet this target, the government will rely on technology to... View Details

Keywords: Health Information Exchange; India; Health APIs; Health Care and Treatment; Information; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology; Health Industry; India

March 2019 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Measuring Impact at JUST Capital

By: Ethan C. Rouen and Charles C.Y. Wang

JUST Capital is a nonprofit organization that seeks to make public companies more "just" by measuring and ranking their overall impact on society, based on the priorities most important to the average American. This case examines JUST’s strategy for influencing... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Performance Evaluation

June 15, 2021
Article

Cutting the Gordian Knot of Employee Health Care Benefits and Costs: A Corporate Model Built on Employee Choice

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Barak D. Richman

President Joe Biden’s promise to give every American access to affordable health insurance is well-intentioned, but his plan’s policy elements—a public option, a permanent expanded tax credit—require congressional approval and would expend significant political and... View Details

Keywords: Health Insurance; Health Insurance Marketplaces; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Financing; Health Care Industry; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Service Delivery; Cost Management; Health Industry; United States

Web

Health Care Programs

March 2014
Teaching Note

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.: Safety, Environment and Health

By: John A. Quelch

In January 2014, Gary Bald, senior vice president of Safety, Environment and Health at Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines (RCL), prepared for a review meeting with the company's chief executive, Adam Goldstein, and chairman, Richard Fain. Prior to joining RCL in 2006, Bald... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Public Health; Cruising; Cruise Lines; Royal Caribbean; Safety; Security; Biodefense; Epidemic; Norovirus; Fire Safety; Crew; Environmental Protection; Innovation; Ship Design; Vacation; Recreation

February 2014 (Revised July 2016)
Case

Iora Health

By: William A. Sahlman and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

The Iora Health case looks at a new approach to the management and delivery of primary care. Instead of having a doctor, half a nurse and two accountants, Iora deploys a doctor, a nurse and several health coaches, all operating as an integrated team. Iora focuses on... View Details

Keywords: Management; Service Delivery; Groups and Teams; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry

01 Mar 2010
News

John Crowley’s Extraordinary Measures

had actually gone out and bought, or made, the exact outfits we were wearing in those pictures.” That was when Crowley, president and CEO of Amicus Therapeutics, first got a taste of how it would feel to be the subject of a movie. Extraordinary View Details

Keywords: Sarah Auerbach; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services

2021
Working Paper

The Great Unequalizer: Initial Health Effects of COVID-19 in the United States

By: Marcella Alsan, Amitabh Chandra and Kosali I. Simon

We measure inequities from the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality and hospitalizations in the United States during the early months of the outbreak. We discuss challenges in measuring health outcomes and health inequality, some of which are specific to COVID-19 and others... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Inequality; Health Pandemics; Demographics; Equality and Inequality

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Health

"Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia." (with James Berry and Jesse Shapiro) August 2008, American Economic Review, December 2010.View Details

June 2015
Teaching Note

Schӧn Klinik: Measuring Cost and Value

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Teaching Note for Schon Klinik: Measuring Cost and Value. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Projects; Health Industry; Germany

2013
Article

The Impact of Electronic Health Record Use on Physician Productivity

By: Julia Adler-Milstein and Robert S. Huckman

To examine the impact of the degree of electronic health record (EHR) use and delegation of EHR tasks on clinician productivity in ambulatory settings.
Study Design: We examined EHR use in primary care practices that implemented a web-based EHR from athenahealth... View Details

Keywords: Electronic Health Records; Health Care; Productivity; Healthcare IT; Information Technology; Performance Productivity; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry