Review of Getting Health Reform Right

I was excited to read Getting Health Reform Right because it approached the problem of health care reform from an international, public policy perspective. The authors all have deep experience working internationally to address health care, and that shows throughout their analysis in the many real world examples of reforms gone right and wrong drawn from across the globe.

Leadership and the feasible

Although I’m still only early on in Getting Health Reform Right, there’s food for thought in every section. The following quote is from their chapter on the politics of reform, and although the political context of health care reform (particularly in third world countries) is an animal unto itself, this quote got me thinking about what makes a successful first-world corporate leader.

Talented political leaders, like talented generals, can win battles and campaigns that would overwhelm those less able or less energetic. So, asking if a policy is feasible is, in part, asking a question about the advocates of reform, especially their creativity, commitment, and skills—and about their opponents. (Getting Health Reform Right, p. 6)

The execution cycle

I’ve cracked the next book in my quest to better understand the health care problems facing the U.S.: Getting Health Reform Right, by Roberts, Hsiao, Berman, and Reich. This is another long one, so a dedicate review is a ways off, but I came across an interesting framework in the opening chapters, one that, with some slight changes in emphasis, could have applicability beyond government policy to include corporate decision-making.

Review of Health Care Will Not Reform Itself, by George Halvorson

George Halvorson is the CEO of Kaiser Permanente, the largest not-for-profit health plan and care system in the U.S., and has been a leader in the industry for over 30 years. Health Care Will Not Reform Itself is his attempt to spell out what he thinks are the key problems and most promising solutions to the health care problems we face.

Review of The Innovator’s Prescription, by Clayton M. Christensen

So, at long last, I’ve finished The Innovator’s Prescription by Clayton Christensen. This was a bit of a slog, but worth it. In every section, Christensen delivers solid ideas and compelling frameworks to understand and address some of the main problems facing health care in the U.S. I definitely recommend it to anyone looking to dig in more deeply to this issue.

Individuals and systems

Although my review of Christensen’s The Innovator’s Prescription is still forthcoming (I have about 100 pages left to finish the book), I keep finding gems along the way that raise important issues for leadership. This post looks at his distinction between individual motivations/drivers and systemic ones. As a leader, you have to understand both perspectives if you’re going to effectively get lots of individuals to act in ways that accomplish organizational goals.

The banality of health care reform

I’m almost finished with Christensen’s The Innovator’s Prescription, and I still can’t shake the feeling I had 75 pages into the book: although I agree with his assessment of health care in the technical sense, I feel that there’s a moral/ethical dimension to the health care problem that he ignores that simply can’t be ignored.

Be careful what you wish for

I’m hitting the real meat of The Innovator’s Prescription by Clayton Christensen, and came across an example of disruption that I think poses an interesting challenge for leaders in general. It occurs in his larger consideration of the future of the pharmaceutical industry on pages 261 – 309, and concerns supply chain disruption.

Christensen believes that the trend among big pharmas to outsource R&D, clinical trials, manufacturing, and marketing is a mistake–it essentially amounts to emptying an organization of its value-adding activities and handing them over to smaller firms who will emerge as market leaders.

As usual, I’ll leave weighing in on this kind of stuff to the experts. But what I do want to discuss is Christensen’s story of the relationship between Dell and ASUSTeK, because I think it’s emblematic of challenges many leaders across a rage of markets face.

Leadership, focus, and the confusion of business models

As I continue to make my way through Clayton Christensen’s The Innovator’s Prescription and deepen my understanding of his take on U.S. health care, I keep stumbling across concepts and analysis that have applicability outside of health care to leadership more generally.

In this post, I want to look at the concept of mixed business models, i.e., “doing everything for everybody”, which Christensen sees as central to how hospitals and doctors can improve the delivery of their services. Here, however, I want to move the discussion beyond health care to consider how mixed business models present a challenge for leaders in any industry.

Morality versus the marketplace

.This post may be jumping the gun a little, because I haven’t finished The Innovator’s Prescription yet, but I found myself drawing some interesting contrasts already between Christensen’s work and T.R. Reid’s (see my review of The Healing of America for a fuller consideration of his ideas).

The most striking contrast to me so far has been the different grounds from which each writer believes health care reform will emerge.