C O L L E C T I O N

www.hbr.org

Curing U.S. Health Care,

The best medicine for
3rd Edition
U.S. health care? New
approaches to
innovation,
competition, and
process improvement.

Included with this collection:

2 Why Innovation in Health Care Is So Hard
by Regina E. Herzlinger

14 Will Disruptive Innovations Cure Health Care?

by Clayton M. Christensen, Richard Bohmer, and John Kenagy

26 Let’s Put Consumers in Charge of Health Care

by Regina E. Herzlinger

38 Fixing Health Care from the Inside, Today

by Steven J. Spear

Product 4400
 Collection Overview
U.S. health care is sick. Executives lament
soaring health-benefit costs. Patients
complain about low-quality care and bur-
densome expenses. Providers bemoan
HMOs’ rules. The antidotes to these ills?
Radical approaches to innovation, com-
petition, and process improvement—on
the part of all players.
Innovation: Developers of new health care
services, technologies, and business models
can better navigate the many forces af-
fecting innovations’ success—such as
regulators’ tendency to play it safe with
restrictive approval policies, and power-
ful stakeholders’ ability to block new ser-
vices to protect their turf. In addition, hos-
pitals and HMOs can embrace simpler,
more affordable, and convenient innova-
tions—such as angioplasty, a less invasive
alternative to open-heart surgery for
many cardiac patients.
Competition: Instead of shifting health
care costs to employees, companies can
unleash competitive forces by putting
COPYRIGHT © 2006 HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL PUBLISHING CORPORATION. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
consumers in charge of health care—giv-
ing them more health plan options,
greater control over their spending, and
more information to make wiser choices.
Process improvement: Health care practi-
tioners can enhance the quality of the ser-
vices they provide by adapting methods
from Toyota’s famed production system
to identify and eradicate systemic prob-
lems during patient care delivery.
No single player can cure U.S. health care.
But by harnessing the collective power of
innovation, competition, and process im-
provement, we can revitalize this strug-
gling system. This Harvard Business Review
OnPoint collection offers guidelines for
doing your part.
The Articles
3 Article Summary
4 Why Innovation in Health Care Is So Hard
by Regina E. Herzlinger
Herzlinger lays out the forces that can make or break health care innovations—whether
in medical services, technologies, or business models—and shows how innovators can
manage these forces. For instance, health care facilities chain HCA pioneered an innovative
business model: consolidating management of hospitals and outpatient centers by avoid-
ing competing directly with politically powerful academic medical centers—a key force. In-
stead, it expanded into underserved communities, where customers appreciated local hos-
pitals and doctors welcomed the chance to work in modern facilities.
13 Further Reading
15 Article Summary
16 Will Disruptive Innovations Cure Health Care?
by Clayton M. Christensen, Richard Bohmer, and John Kenagy
Disruptive technologies—simple, affordable medical innovations—can help revitalize U.S.
health care. But players must shift focus from expensive, complex technologies that serve
the few to innovations that will improve health care for the many. How? Develop processes
and technologies that enable less skilled clinicians to treat simple disorders, while referring
complicated conditions to more expert practitioners. And create health care facilities that
excel in treating single-category disorders, such as cardiac or renal illnesses.
25 Further Reading
27 Article Summary
28 Let’s Put Consumers in Charge of Health Care
by Regina E. Herzlinger
Through consumer-driven health care, companies help employees control the health care
industry and stimulate fair competition. For instance, a company gives employees objective
information on specific doctors, hospitals, and insurers, so they can select care wisely. It also
motivates employees to shop intelligently—by “giving” employees the sum it would have
spent on benefits and letting them tailor their coverage to their needs. Such changes un-
leash the industry’s competitive forces—spurring productivity and innovation, improving
quality, and lowering prices.
37 Further Reading
39 Article Summary
40 Fixing Health Care from the Inside, Today
by Steven J. Spear
By applying Toyota’s process improvement principles, health care practitioners improve
their work while they’re actually doing it—reducing errors, saving lives, and decreasing costs.
Keys include clarifying roles during a procedure; breaking big problems into manageable
pieces; and conducting simulations to identify and eradicate causes of problems. Applying
Toyota’s method enabled one hospital to reduce the number of intravenous-catheter infec-
tions from 37 to 6 in one year—and associated deaths from 19 to 1.
54 Further Reading
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