On behalf of the editorial team (Regina Herzlinger, Kevin Schulman, Lawrence Van Horn, and myself), I am delighted to welcome you to the current issue of HMPI. We are proud to publish another strong set of articles that help advance HMPI’s vision: We draw from the research and experience of scholars and practicing leaders to provide insights for public and private health sector organizations around the world. This issue kicks off with a set of articles about a question that has huge topical importance: drug prices in the U.S. and elsewhere. This question never lurks far below the surface of political and industry discourse and the current U.S. administration is considering multiple initiatives that would rein in what it believes are excessive prices. The articles in this issue outline the nature of pharmaceutical markets, discuss alternative pricing systems, and consider how moral hazard that arises due to third party payment may contribute to escalating drug prices. The challenge here, of course, is to find a viable balance of cost-effectiveness with continued development of innovative medicines that support health and healthcare in the U.S. and globally. Together, the articles provide a thoughtful base for considering mechanisms that will help find and maintain that balance.
The issue also features strong new research. Karoline Mortensen, Tianyan Hu, Aleeza Vitale, and Hanns Kuttner address the question of whether healthcare providers offer the same services to Medicaid and private patients. Rachel Hadler, Julia Lynch, Julia Berenson, and Lee Fleisher report on a study of how willing patients are to receive services from nurse practitioners rather than physicians, and whether any preference varies by patients’ political affiliations. Gregory Shea, Jeffrey Kaplan, and Stephen Klasko report a study on the impact of leadership development programs for physicians and non-physicians in academic health centers.
We also draw extensively on the experience of thoughtful leaders with an outstanding set of perspectives articles. Mark Simon discusses how obstetrics hospitalists can help reduce perinatal adverse events. Lilac Nachum outlines how the balance between global and local is transforming the scope of opportunities and raising challenges for healthcare professionals and institutions. Steven Ullmann and Richard Westland report on a recent conference that identified issues that are top of mind for leaders in the U.S. healthcare and life sciences sector.
In addition, we are proud to publish the winning entry from BAHM’s 2018 case competition. Elisha Friesema, Stephen Palmquist, and Prachi Bawaskar of the University of Minnesota identify ways of using contagion models from public health to help address the current opioid crisis.
As a final note, we will mention Kristiana Raube’s graduation from the HMPI editorial team. Kristi has taken up the role of country director of the Peace Corps in Liberia. We deeply grateful for Kristi’s leadership in relaunching HMPI. And we are proud of her new leadership in Liberia.
The authors of the articles that we publish in HMPI are committed to improving health systems around the world. We welcome your comments about the articles – please send your comments to us at info@hmpi.org. We also welcome discussion on the BAHM Forum on LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/groups/7042389].
We welcome ideas for potential articles. If you have an idea that you would like to explore for HMPI, please send an outline of your article to our editorial team (info@hmpi.org).
Will Mitchell
Professor of Strategic Management
Anthony S. Fell Chair in New Technologies and Commercialization
Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto