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Regi’s ‘Innovating in Health Care’ Case Corner

“Regi’s ‘Innovating in Health Care’ Case Corner” highlights teaching materials that focus on how to innovate in all sectors of health care – including delivery, insurance, and life sciences – around the world. The materials will help readers fulfill the difficult job of actually innovating so that health care can better meet its costs, quality, and access challenges.

“Regi”, aka Regina E. Herzlinger, is the Nancy McPherson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. She is the author of three bestselling trade books on health care –Market –Driven Health Care, Consumer-Driven Health Care, and Who Killed Health Care? 

Regi teaches two MBA courses and an executive course on Innovating in Health Care. Selected by HBS students as their best instructor, she is currently completing a text and case book on Innovating in Health Care. Her Harvard edX MOOC, “Innovating in Health Care”, will be offered again in the fall of 2018. She is the founder of the Global Educators Network for Health Innovation Education (GENiE) group which convenes annual conferences on health care innovation education.

This issue of Regi’s Case Corner highlights the opportunities for a “focused factory” model in health care. The case, which includes a teaching note, and a background reading are available from the HBS case distribution site.

HBS case: Hub and Spoke, Health Care Global and Additional Focused Factory Models for Cancer Care, 9-313-030

Authors: Regina E. Herzlinger, Amit Ghorawat, Meera Krishnan, Naiyya Saggi

Synopsis: Dr. Ajai Kumar, the founder of Health Care Global (HCG), a chain of innovative Indian cancer treatment centers, is contemplating whether to expand his model in India or to enter some African countries. Along the way, he assesses the lessons he can learn from the business models of other cancer treatment centers described in the case, such as the research-focused Dana Farber or the consumer – focused Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA).

Regi notes that she teaches this case with an “Innovating in Health Care” framework that enables students to evaluate the following questions.

  • How well aligned is the innovation with six critical aspects of the health care ecosystem: financing; structure; public policy; technology; accountability; and consumers? I call them the “Six Factors”. If the innovation is not well aligned with the Six Factors, we discuss what, if anything, could be done to improve the alignment.
  • Will the business model work? The business models of some innovations contain unrealistic ideas about important elements such as the strategy, financing, and management team composition. The students evaluate the business model and recommend specific changes.

Download PDF

Materials

  • Reading: Innovating in Health Care – Framework
  • Case: Hub and Spoke, Health Care Global and Additional    Focused Factory Models for Cancer Care, 9-313-030
  • edX MOOC: Innovating in Health care
  • Note about access to materials: Harvard Business School holds the copyrights to most materials in this section; the links connect to the HBS case site where they may be purchased. Academic readers typically can register with the HBS site for access to complementary educator review copies of the materials.

Reading: Innovating in Health Care – Framework

  • HBS case: 9-314-017 (July 8, 2015)
  • Author: Regina E. Herzlinger
  • Synopsis: This note contains three frameworks that will help you create effective health care innovations: Three different types of health care innovations; “Six Factors” alignment: Is the idea viable?; Business model elements: How to make it happen.
  • HBS link: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/314017-PDF-ENG

edX MOOC: Innovating in Health Care (HarvardX MOOC)

  • Instructors: Regina E. Herzlinger (Harvard University), Margo I. Seltzer (Harvard University), Kevin Schulman (Duke University)
  • Synopsis: Improve critical thinking about health care entrepreneurship by reading, discussing, and analyzing case studies and writing a business plan.
  • Link to archived course: https://www.edx.org/course/innovating-health-care-harvardx-bus5-1
  • Next session: The MOOC will be offered again in 2018

Regi would love to hear from readers who have teaching materials (e.g., cases; syllabi; experiences with mentoring, entrepreneurship in residence; blended courses) in innovating in health care. She welcomes all other feedback, too.