Jason Hwang's Blog (6)

In The Innovator's Prescription, we estimated that facilitated networks -- business models in which customers exchange resources with one another -- comprise up to 40% of GDP. In comparison to the general economy, networks seem drastically underutilized in health care, despite the increasing ubiquity of telecommunications that has allowed providers and patients to connect in new ways. However, there are many innovative network models beginning to take shape. We highlighted how patient ne… Continue

A McKinsey analysis released this month calculated that 43.2% of health care costs in 2006 were related to “catastrophic expenses,” but insurance payments accounted for 57.7% of the funding for all expenses. This mismatch supports our assertion in The Innovator’s Prescription that today’s health insurance products are no longer “true insurance” meant to protect assets a… Continue

In an excellent story called “A healthcare system badly out of balance,” Boston Globe reporters investigated what they called “the best kept secret in Massachusetts medicine.” Labeling it the “Partners Effect,” the article exposed that health insurers pay Massachusetts General Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Children’s Hospital 15 to 60 percent more than other state hospitals… Continue

According to a Physician’s Foundation survey released on November 18, 2008, 49% of physician respondents plan to reduce the number of patients seen or stop practicing altogether in the next three years. 78% said medicine is either “no longer rewarding” or “less rewarding”; 60% would not recommend medicine as a career; and 45% would retire immediately if they had the financial means to do so. Primary care, in part… Continue

The November 10, 2008 issue of Time hailed “The Retail DNA Test” as the Invention of the Year. 23andMe, which was profiled as part of the article, offers a $399 saliva test* that features a number of disruptive characteristics. The test is marketed directly to consumers and performed via mail order – eliminating the need to pass through traditional venues of tes… Continue

In the September 8, 2008 issue of Business Week (in collaboration with CBS News), an article entitled “Medical Bills You Shouldn’t Pay” described the illegal practice of balance billing in health care, in which hospitals and physicians charge their patients for the difference between what the providers billed and the amount that… Continue