Leading Strategic Change in an Era of Healthcare Transformation

This book focuses on how to lead transformative and strategic change in the healthcare industry in times of great uncertainty. Written for senior healthcare leaders, it will provide new tools, processes, examples and case studies offering an effective framework in which to transform healthcare systems. Specifically, leaders will be able to answer the following questions:

‧ Why change? What has led us to today, and what is the current situation in healthcare?

‧ What to change? What areas for change are most promising—areas with the greatest potential to yield significant benefits?

‧ When to change?  Should changes start now, or should change wait for the stars to come into some special alignment?

Healthcare is personal. Healthcare is local. And at the same time, healthcare is one of the greatest challenges faced by countries around the world. All major economies confront similar issues: “demand-side” growth in the care of aging populations in the face of “supply-side” resource constraints driven by ever-increasing costs of providing such care. While cultural, historical, and political differences among nations will yield different solutions, healthcare leaders across the globe must deal with ever-increasing uncertainty as to the scope and speed of their healthcare systems’ evolution. The magnitude of these challenges calls for fundamental change to address inherent problems in the healthcare system and ensure sustainable access to healthcare for generations to come. The problem is understanding where and how to change. Failures of strategy are often failures to anticipate a reality different than what organizations are prepared or willing to see. 

Both system-wide and organizational transformation means doing current activities more efficiently while layering on change. This book aims to provide leaders with the tools to help organizations and health care systems adapt and evolve to meet the new challenges of healthcare as it continues to evolve.

Jim Austin, a former senior executive at Baxter Healthcare, combines business strategy and organizational development theory with extensive industry experience. As an Adjunct Faculty member of the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton Business School, he tailored and delivered senior-level seminars on Strategy, Strategic Execution, Scenario Planning, and Critical Thinking for a number of leading companies including Boston Scientific, Coca-Cola, Lincoln Financial, General Electric, Boston Scientific, McKesson and Hitachi. In 2013, Brown University appointed Jim a Senior Lecturer of Healthcare Leadership where he leads the graduate Marketing and Management seminar.

As a Senior Principal at Decision Strategies International, Inc., he directed numerous projects including scenarios of the future for US Medical Devices; R&D priorities for a major consumer products company; a strategic plan for the American College of Radiology; scenarios of the future for the League of Southeastern Credit Unions; and a new vision/priorities at RAND Health.

Jim holds a BA in Economics and Politics from Yale University. He was a Special Student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the Urban Studies Department, and received a joint Masters in Public Affairs (MPA) and a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning (MURP) from the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University.

Judith Bentkover is the Executive and Academic Director in Brown University’s Executive Master of Healthcare Leadership program. She is a Professor of the Practice in the Department of Health Services, Policy and Practice at Brown, and also a Professor of the Practice in the Economics Department at Tufts University.

As the former President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Innovative Health Solutions, a consulting firm providing research and strategic analysis to healthcare manufacturers, providers, and payers, Dr. Bentkover lead international multidisciplinary teams in projects focused on applied economic and decision analysis associated with the use of pharmaceuticals, devices, biotechnology products, procedures, and diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive regimens.

Dr. Bentkover has authored approximately 100 research articles, chapters, monographs, books and reports. She has testified before Congress, explaining the drivers of hospital costs. Dr. Bentkover is a reviewer for several pharmacoeconomics, medical, and health policy journals. She was included on Health Care 500’s list of the most influential health policy makers in the US and is recognized as a developer of therapy economics, translating cost-benefit methodology into innovative strategic management tools. She often is invited as a guest lecturer at universities, executive workshops, and conferences.

Laurence Chait is an Adjunct Senior Lecturer at Brown University, where he teaches a Masters-level course in Strategy. He is also Managing Director of Chait & Associates, Inc., a consultancy that advises senior management and their teams on achieving and sustaining high performance—and helps them keep their strategic initiatives on track. He has over forty years of experience in business management and information technology.

In his consulting work, Mr. Chait has helped executives and organizations across industries manage change. His focus is on strategic business planning, change management, process improvement, and knowledge leverage. In addition, Mr. Chait supports clients as an executive and team coach.

Prior to Chait and Associates, Mr. Chait was Vice President and Director of Arthur D. Little, Inc. He held positions including Chief Knowledge Officer and Principal. While at ADL, Mr. Chait developed the firm’s Business Process Improvement methodology and built its practice in that area.

Mr. Chait has authored three books on information technology and human resources, and is a contributing author of “Managing the Learning Process of the Corporation.” He has also authored 20 articles published in the U.S. and abroad, lectured in MBA and post-graduate programs in seven universities, and spoken at over 40 conferences on topics including the management of change, knowledge management, and process improvement. For the past decade, Mr. Chait has been President of the Boston KM Forum.

Mr. Chait received his AB in Economics from Cornell University and his MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.