Health →
- 11 Jun 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Throwing the Baby Out with the Drinking Water: Unintended Consequences of Arsenic Mitigation Efforts in Bangladesh
In this study, households that were encouraged to switch water sources to avoid arsenic exposure experienced a significant rise in infant and child mortality, likely due to diarrheal disease from exposure to unsafe alternatives. Public health interventions should carefully consider access to alternatives when engaging in mass behavior change efforts.
- 06 May 2019
- Research & Ideas
Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?
Millions of people have been harmed by cigarettes, defective merchandise, pollution, addiction and other business by-products. now, pioneering companies are exploring healthier ways to operate, say Amy C. Edmondson and Dr. Howard K. Koh. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Apr 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Can Biometric Tracking Improve Healthcare Provision and Data Quality? Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control in India
This paper shows the benefits of biometric technology for strengthening service delivery and improving reliability of government data. The technology improved productivity of health workers operating tuberculosis treatment centers and decreased misreporting.
- 21 Mar 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Advancing Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Research Through Open Innovation Competitions
Crowdsourcing is a way for many individuals to address a common problem. This paper describes the design and outcomes of three crowdsourcing contests focused on algorithms for 1) clustering antibody sequences, 2) imputing gene expression measurements, and 3) performing fast queries on a particular dataset. Innovation through contests greatly improved the solutions available.
- 28 Feb 2019
- Cold Call Podcast
Pursuing Precision Medicine at Intermountain Healthcare
What happens when Intermountain Healthcare invests resources in an innovative precision medicine unit to provide life-extending, genetically targeted therapies to late-stage cancer patients? Professors Richard Hamermesh and Kathy Giusti discuss the case and its connections to their work with the Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Sep 2018
- Research & Ideas
How Cost Accounting is Improving Healthcare in Rural Haiti
The cost of healthcare in rural Haiti was found to vary widely, even inside the same health organization. A pioneering cost accounting system co-developed by Robert Kaplan was called in to determine the cause. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 13 Aug 2018
- Research & Ideas
Women Heart Patients Have Better Survival Odds with Women Doctors
Roughly one in 66 women has a better chance of leaving the hospital alive if their doctor is also a woman, according to research by Laura Huang and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Jul 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
How Does Product Liability Risk Affect Innovation? Evidence from Medical Implants
This analysis examines how a surge in liability risk faced by upstream suppliers of general purpose technologies (polymers) affected downstream innovation in implant technologies. Implant patenting dropped by 36 percent relative to non-implant technologies.
- 12 Jun 2018
- Research & Ideas
In a Landscape of 'Me Too' Drug Development, What Spurs Radical Innovation?
Pharmaceutical companies are criticized for not producing more breakthrough drugs. But new research by Joshua Krieger and colleagues shows that, given a financial windfall, drug giants turn on the innovation. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
A Simple Way for Restaurant Inspectors to Improve Food Safety
Basic tweaks to the schedules of food safety inspectors could prevent millions of foodborne illnesses, according to new behavioral science research by Maria Ibáñez and Michael Toffel. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Mar 2018
- Cold Call Podcast
Could a New Business Model Make Clinical Drug Trials More Accessible to Patients?
Ariel Stern discusses her recent case study about creating a new type of clinical trial designed to deliver life-enhancing drugs to patients more quickly. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Mar 2018
- Research & Ideas
Electronic Health Records Were Supposed to Cut Medical Costs. They Haven't.
Digitizing patient information promised to cut health care costs by driving down administrative expenses. So why can it cost a doctor more than $200 to process a single bill? New research by Robert Kaplan and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Jan 2018
- Research & Ideas
How to Get People Addicted to a Good Habit
Reshmaan Hussam and colleagues used experimental interventions to determine if people could be persuaded to develop a healthy habit. Potentially at stake: the lives of more than a million children. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Jan 2018
- Research & Ideas
A Better Business Model for Fighting Cancer
The Kraft Precision Medicine Accelerator aims to speed up the development and delivery of cancer therapies by improving the business processes that surround them. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Jan 2018
- Working Paper Summaries
Identifying Sources of Inefficiency in Health Care
This economic study finds evidence of allocative inefficiency and substantial variation in comparative advantage across hospitals, with the benefits from treatment being much higher in some hospitals than others. The study overall suggests new directions for research on productivity in healthcare.
- 16 Oct 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Healthy Business? Managerial Education and Management in Healthcare
A hospital's proximity to a university supplying both business and clinical education is associated with higher management practice scores and better clinical outcomes.
- 20 Apr 2017
- Cold Call Podcast
Making Health Insurance That Consumers Actually Like
By motivating its insurance customers to take care of themselves, South African firm Vitality has expanded to the United Kingdom and China. In this podcast, Professor Regina Herzlinger discusses potential impacts of this model for health care in the United States. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Mar 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: Can the Proposed American Health Care Act Improve on 'Obamacare'?
Politics aside, the primary question to be asked about the newly proposed American Health Care Act is this: Will it improve choice, cost, and outcomes for health care consumers? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Mar 2017
- Research & Ideas
A Good Thing Happens When Doctors Start Talking to Their Patients
A longer visit with your doctor before a procedure can improve results and save money, according to Robert S. Kaplan. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
What Hospitals Must Learn to Compete
3QUESTIONS Why is it so difficult for American health care providers to compete for customers? Raffaella Sadun and Leemore Dafny discuss why health care needs a business strategy. Open for comment; 0 Comments.