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New research on the health industry from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including improving practice, health care technology, and public policy.
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Female Inventors and Inventions

by Rembrand Koning, Sampsa Samila, and John-Paul Ferguson

Does the gender of inventors make a difference for who benefits from their inventions? Analysis of all U.S. biomedical patents issued between 1976 and 2010 shows that research teams with women were more likely to produce patents addressing women’s health conditions, especially when female researchers led the teams. This link suggests that the dearth of women inventors might also result in fewer female-focused inventions.

How a New Leader Broke Through a Culture of Accuse, Blame, and Criticize

Re: Amy C. Edmondson

Children’s Hospital & Clinics COO Julie Morath sets out to change the culture by instituting a policy of blameless reporting, which encourages employees to report anything that goes wrong or seems substandard, without fear of reprisal. Professor Amy Edmondson discusses getting an organization into the “High Performance Zone.” Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Germany May Have the Answer for Reducing Drug Prices

by Danielle Kost

In Germany, drugmakers must prove that a new medication’s benefits merit a higher price than existing drugs. Ariel Dora Stern asks whether "value-based pricing" should become the standard elsewhere. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Who Drives Digital Innovation? Evidence from the US Medical Device Industry

by Cirrus Foroughi and Ariel Dora Stern

Major industries are undergoing a digital transformation, in which key aspects of new product development are migrating to a software-driven context. In the medical device industry, experience matters, as does the geographic clustering of new product development, which gives advantages to both new entrants and incumbent firms.

Distressed Employees? Try Resilience Training

by Dina Gerdeman

Depressed employees are up to five times more likely to experience work-related problems than employees with chronic physical illnesses. So why aren't employers helping them? asks Ashley Whillans. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

What Hospitals Must Learn to Compete

by Alumni Bulletin Staff

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; Comment(s) posted.

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

by Danielle Kost

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; Comment(s) posted.

Open Innovation Contestants Build AI-Based Cancer Tool

by Martha Lagace

Radiation oncologists are few in number, especially if you are nowhere near a cancer facility. Could artificial intelligence be used to deliver an oncologist's skills for radiation therapy? Karim R. Lakhani discusses a unique open innovation experiment. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Can Biometric Tracking Improve Healthcare Provision and Data Quality? Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control in India

by Thomas Bossuroy, Clara Delavallade, and Vincent Pons

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.

Mitigating the Negative Effects of Customer Anxiety Through Access to Human Contact

by Michelle A. Shell and Ryan W. Buell

Firms increasingly deploy self-service technologies (SSTs) to manage customer interfaces that are inherently stressful. For example, patients may be asked to use kiosks to check themselves into hospitals. This study finds that customer anxiety during SST transactions can reduce customers’ trust in the service provider. Operational design choices may help.

Advancing Computational Biology and Bioinformatics Research Through Open Innovation Competitions

by Blasco, Andrea, Michael G. Endres, Rinat A. Sergeev, Anup Jonchhe, Max Macaluso, Rajiv Narayan, Ted Natoli, Jin H. Paik, Bryan Briney, Chunlei Wu, Andrew I. Su, Aravind Subramanian, and Karim R. Lakhani

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.

Pursuing Precision Medicine at Intermountain Healthcare

Re: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy E. Giusti

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; Comment(s) posted.

Why Business Should Support Employees Who Are Caregivers

by Danielle Kost

Shifting demographics are causing an increasing number of people to act as caregivers for family and friends—but employers seem hardly to notice the trend. Joseph Fuller discusses why companies should support them. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

by Bill George

At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, these four corporate leaders stepped forward—and changed how we think of leadership forever, says Bill George. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Negative Shocks and Innovation: Evidence from Medical Device Recalls

by George P. Ball, Jeffrey T. Macher, and Ariel Dora Stern

This study examines Food and Drug Administration data on all medical device approvals and recalls over the years 2003-2015, finding that firms slow down their own innovation processes in response to recalls, while their direct competitors accelerate innovative activities. Recalls may thus pose a greater strategic disadvantage than previously understood.

How Cost Accounting is Improving Healthcare in Rural Haiti

by Carmen Nobel

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; Comment(s) posted.

Women Heart Patients Have Better Survival Odds with Women Doctors

by Rachel Layne

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; Comment(s) posted.

No More General Tso's? A Threat to 'Knowledge Recombination'

by Michael Blanding

Immigrants bring with them innovations from their homelands, knowledge that local inventors often build upon, says Prithwiraj Choudhury. Examples: turmeric medicine, double-entry bookkeeping, and American Chinese food. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

In a Landscape of 'Me Too' Drug Development, What Spurs Radical Innovation?

by Rachel Layne

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; Comment(s) posted.

Digital Innovation with High Costs of Entry: Evidence from Software-Driven Medical Devices

by Cirrus Foroughi and Ariel Dora Stern

Although technology shifts often allow new entrants to edge into a market, established firms seem to be maintaining leadership in the medical devices industry, where software integration is increasingly important.