Publications

23 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Medical Debt Won't Make Everyone Happier

patients finds the reality is much more complicated when it comes to languishing hospital bills. Canceling overdue medical debt on average does little or nothing to improve credit access, existing bill... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

12 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Waking Up a Sleeping Company

undermined the company's performance. For all its strengths, it was my impression that Medtronic's culture was too Minnesota Nice. I realized that these aspects of Medtronic's culture had to change if we were going to be an effective competitor and realize our vision... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

14 Jan 2019
Op-Ed

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

Mayo Clinic in 2009, the world-famous medical center was struggling financially. Congress would soon be negotiating the terms of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Obama Administration’s signature health care legislation. From the outset,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health; Banking; Food & Beverage; Consumer Products

04 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Attention Medical Shoppers: What Health Care Can Learn from Walmart and Amazon

Medical School professor, surgeon, and New Yorker staff writer Atul Gawande; and HBS professor Raffaella Sadun, who has led an international research project on the role of management in acute care hospitals and View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

07 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Electronic Health Records Were Supposed to Cut Medical Costs. They Haven't.

much evidence for that,” says coauthor Robert S. Kaplan, senior fellow and Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. The research, conducted at Duke University Medical Center in 2016 and 2017,... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Health

2022
Article

Rapid Growth of Remote Patient Monitoring Is Driven by a Small Number of Primary Care Providers

By: Mitchell Tang, Ateev Mehrotra and Ariel Dora Stern

Growing enthusiasm for remote patient monitoring has been motivated by the hope that it can improve care for patients with poorly controlled chronic illness. In a national commercially insured population in the U.S., we found that billing for remote patient monitoring... View Details

Keywords: Remote Monitoring; Medical Billing; Health Care Costs; Telehealth; Diabetes; Chronic Disease; Insurance Claims; Diseases; Primary Care Providers; COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost; Health Industry; United States

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March 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Omar Ishrak: Building Medtronic Globally

By: Bill George and Natalie Kindred

Omar Ishrak, Medtronic's first non-American CEO, aims to reinvigorate the medical device maker's growth by focusing on emerging markets, therapy innovation, and creative business models. In 2012, budget constraints in mature economies, the lack of new medical therapies... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Medical Devices; Medtronic; Globalization; Innovation; Reverse Innovation; Leadership; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Management Teams; Business Model; Emerging Markets; Global Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Innovation and Invention; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; China

May 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

The Jenner Situation

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Andy Whittemore and Eliot Sherman

Dr. Bill Lemont is the new chief medical officer of a large academic medical center. During his first week on the job he has become aware of the abusive behavior and temper outbursts of a prominent orthopedic surgeon. How Dr. Lemont handles the situation will be... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Employee Relationship Management; Managerial Roles; Behavior; Conflict Management; Health Industry

Research Summary

Overview

Patient Portals: The Provider Role
Patient portals are widespread, but evidence of impact is limited. In this study, we use a large dataset spanning 2 years and >1 million patients across 650 primary care practices to explore the "other side" of portals: health... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare Technology; Electronic Health Records; Health Care Delivery

Article

The Economic Consequences of Hospital Admissions

By: Carlos Dobkin, Amy Finkelstein, Raymond Kluender and Matthew Notowidigdo

We use an event study approach to examine the economic consequences of hospital admissions for adults in two datasets: survey data from the Health and Retirement Study, and hospitalization data linked to credit reports. For non-elderly adults with health insurance,... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Insurance; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Health Care and Treatment

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December 1994 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Physician Sales and Service, Inc. (A): June 1992

A medical products distribution company faces strategic opportunities and challenges in a rapidly changing market. Physician Sales and Service (PSS), founded by Patrick Kelly in 1983, operates in 20 states in the United States and intends to expand to 50 states by... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

13 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

7 Lessons for Navigating the Storm

It is tough to think positively in a crisis. Yet one overarching lesson in a new book by HBS professor Bill George, 7 Lessons for Leading in Crisis (Jossey-Bass), is exactly that: See crisis as a chance to develop and enhance your... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 19, 2024
Article

Value-Based Health Care Can Transform the Treatment of Patients with Substance Use Disorder

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Sarah E. Wakeman

U.S. overdose deaths currently exceed 100,000 per year. New facilities, known as bridge clinics, are broadening access to high-quality care by offering outpatient substance use disorder (SUD) treatment with few access barriers. But many of the critical services offered... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Adoption

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11 Aug 2016
Cold Call Podcast

Why College Rankings Keep Deans Awake at Night

differences. That reality, however, hasn't slowed the rising tide of annual college rankings from every corner of the world, rating schools in every category imaginable. Today we'll hear from Professor Bill Kirby about his case entitled... View Details

Keywords: Re: William C. Kirby; Education

November 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Computerized Provider Order Entry at Emory Healthcare

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil, Andrew Katz, Michael Morgan and David LaBorde

The Computerized Provider Order Entry at Emory Healthcare case presents one hospital system's efforts to implement computerized provider order entry (CPOE) across all of its hospitals and the challenges they faced in doing so. Issues such as standardization of care,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Management; Management Systems; Standards; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Projects; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Industry

Article

The IT Transformation Health Care Needs

By: Nikhil R. Sahni, Robert S. Huckman, Anuraag Chigurupati and David M. Cutler

In recent years, health care organizations have made sizable investments in information technology. They’ve used their IT systems to replace paper records with electronic ones and to improve billing processes, thereby boosting revenue. But so far, IT has been of little... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Performance Improvement; Business Model

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12 Jan 2018
Cold Call Podcast

Leadership Lessons from a Young Martin Luther King, Jr.

clearly taken its toll. Today, we'll hear from Professor Bill George about his case entitled, Martin Luther King, Jr.: A Young Minister Confronts the Challenges of Montgomery. I'm your host, Brian Kenny, and you're listening to Cold Call.... View Details

January 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Medtronic, Inc.

In 1991, Bill George, CEO of Medtronic, the world's largest manufacturer of pacemakers, was evaluating his strategic options in light of the changing economic environment. In the United States, Europe, and Japan, governments were considering regulatory changes to... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Policy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry