The term “core competency” was coined by management experts C.K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel in their influential 1990 article titled “The core competence of the corporation,” published in the Harvard Business Review. Prahalad and H…
Category: Policy
Academic medical centers under threat: the impact of funding cuts
A familiar ding echoes from blue scrub pants. My conditioned frontal cortex reflexively shoots my hand to the back pocket. Fingers encircle a black smartphone. A ricochet of notification vibration still tickles my right buttock. Several semi-autonomous…
Academic medical centers under threat: the impact of funding cuts
A familiar ding echoes from blue scrub pants. My conditioned frontal cortex reflexively shoots my hand to the back pocket. Fingers encircle a black smartphone. A ricochet of notification vibration still tickles my right buttock. Several semi-autonomous…
C. Everett Koop’s fearless fight against the tobacco industry
An excerpt from Dr. Koop: The Many Lives of the Surgeon General. “I have learned that, when an idea’s time has come—and it is on your watch—you must seize the moment.”– CEK, Glasgow speech It would take C. Everett Koop, M.D., Sc…
Adapting to survive: lessons from Blockbuster for primary care
Blockbuster was once a dominant force in the video entertainment industry, with thousands of stores and near-total market control. However, when digital streaming services emerged, Blockbuster was slow to respond, dismissing Netflix as a passing trend….
How corporate greed and politics are destroying health care
In past decades, physicians practiced medicine. The majority were dedicated to patient well-being. They were paternalistic and decided what was in their patients’ best interests, and patients generally trusted their judgments. In the 1970s, ethic…
The hidden cost of health care: How rising debt threatens your access to care
Before a discussion of entitlements and welfare programs is started, a primer on the fiscal situation of the country seems appropriate. Service on the national debt is now second only to Social Security as a government expenditure. The debt is now abou…
When state legislators are given the opportunity, they vote overwhelmingly for doctor autonomy in pain treatment
As I have written elsewhere, the United States is now embroiled in a highly contentious debate concerning the causes of the so-called “opioid crisis.” Prescribing guidelines updated in 2022 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention …
10 ways health care leaders sabotage their own success—and how to stop
As a former health care executive, I have witnessed many leaders at all levels sabotage their own success. Most of it was unintentional but rather the result of a failure to learn from those who have gone before. Many in the health care industry are pr…
Why Quebec’s health care model could change Canada’s system for good
Health care systems worldwide are grappling with access, efficiency, and sustainability challenges. In Canada, the debate over public versus private care is especially charged, and nowhere is this more evident than in Quebec. The province has the highe…
