The Transformative Hospital Supply Chain: Balancing Costs with Quality

National healthcare systems face spiraling expenses as they seek to provide affordable, high-quality, and universal care services. Hospital supply chains present these systems with a prime opportunity both to mitigate increases in expenses and help improve patient care. download (333kb, PDF) >

Anatomy of an E-Health Ecosystem

E-health initiatives cannot succeed unless five key areas receive sufficient attention: governance policies and regulation, the financing model, technology infrastructure, services, and stakeholders. download (1.1mb, PDF) >

Global Talent Innovation: Strategies for Breakthrough Performance

Managing talent well creates value for companies — that’s the bottom line. To remain competitive, particularly in difficult times, they must not only cut costs; they must also seize future advantage by revamping their talent management strategies and developing more innovative value propositions, in line with the changing demographics of a more mobile, diverse, and global workforce. download (1.2mb, PDF) >

Making Change Happen, and Making it Stick: Delivering Sustainable Organizational Change

This Perspective describes Booz & Company’s approach to change management and lays out the five key success steps in any successful change management program. download (458kb, PDF) >

Social CRM: How Companies Can Link into the Social Web of Consumers

Social networking and other new technologies have given rise to the “social consumer.” Navigating this new world requires a new way of approaching customer relationship management, commonly called social CRM. In addition to their traditional CRM tools and processes, companies must rethink their product, channel, and customer strategies in order to build an entirely new relationship with their customers through greater transparency. download (437kb, PDF) >

The Back Office Hits The Front Burner: The Next Big Opportunity in Cost Containment For Health Plans

A cost transformation in the back-office operations of health plans could result in cost savings of as much as 20 percent. download (485kb, PDF) >

The GCC's Insurance Mandate: How a Healthcare Policy Shift Affects Stakeholders

Recognizing they will not be able to shoulder their citizens' healthcare costs indefinitely, the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are shedding their welfare-state approach to funding of the healthcare sector in favor of a market-driven approach. One key part of this reform has been to make private employers responsible for far more of the region's healthcare burden. download (260kb, PDF) >

Simplicity, Reliability, Value: Building Broker Loyalty to Health Plans

Health plans are currently under pressure to maintain margins and membership bases, especially as groups confronting financial challenges drop or reduce coverage. Lower premiums and attractive commissions may drive short-term sales, but they are unsustainable in a prolonged downturn. download (407kb, PDF) >

Deal or No Deal? Outcomes from a Decade of Healthcare M&A

Despite the economic climate, many companies in the healthcare sector remain very well capitalized. And with the capital markets re-opening, we see growing momentum to re-evaluate portfolios and to exploit today’s price environment. In this study, published at the Social Science Research Network, we studied 1,750 healthcare deals over the 1998-2008 period, to identify common themes behind winning/losing deals. read more >

Winning in Post-Reform Healthcare: What Insurers Can Do Today

Since early 2009, the debate surrounding healthcare reform has occupied Congress and, arguably, the rest of the United States. Under any plausible scenario, the reforms will create a new set of winners and losers. Some insurers may already be better situated than others to win, given their current market position and book of business. But success will accrue to those insurers that can quickly seize the moment, mobilizing their resources, and building the necessary capabilities to not only survive but succeed in post-reform healthcare. download (357kb, PDF) >

Strong-Form Products: What Providers Should Do Regardless of Reform Efforts

A major long-term issue for the healthcare industry and U.S. consumers is cost — and the key is healthcare costs, not insurance costs. The focus of future waves of change/reform will place providers front and center. Working with doctors and insurers — and understanding consumers better — will be vital. And “strong-form” products that address the broadest possible set of clinical conditions and treatments, not just the most serious and expensive, are likely to play a major role. download (597kb, PDF) >

The Pharmacy Solution: An Expanding Role for Pharmacies in Healthcare Delivery

Convenient retail pharmacies with trusted staff could play an important part in expanding access to healthcare while driving down cost. However, to make a truly transformative impact on healthcare, pharmacies must overcome structural barriers and explore new business models. download (250kb, PDF) >

Getting a Handle on Chronic Disease: Health Management Services in the GCC Region

As GCC nations continue to invest in their healthcare systems, the region’s leaders should take their cue from certain developed nations in adopting health management services to help address the specter of a chronic disease epidemic. download (368kb, PDF) >

The Empathy Engine: Achieving Breakthroughs in Patient Service

This Perspective reflects the results of Katzenbach Center research on the state of customer service in healthcare. When healthcare players transform themselves into Empathy Engines, they not only improve patient satisfaction but create opportunities to improve the quality of care, increase employee engagement, reduce costs and achieve breakthroughs in organizational performance. download (1.0mb, PDF) >

Optimizing E-Health Value: Using an Investment Model to Build a Foundation for Program Success

Electronic health (e-health) initiatives that apply information technology to the delivery of healthcare services for patients and management of clinical information are an essential weapon in the battle against the rising costs and other sys­temic problems in healthcare. A customizable investment model can help guide policymakers as they seek to define, implement, and gain acceptance of viable e-health programs. download (562kb, PDF) >

Healthy Links: Bringing Interoperability to Healthcare Delivery

Healthcare organizations are striving to ensure continuity of care for their patients by moving from a paper-based environment to a digital setting in which information is collected, stored, and shared through IT applications. An enterprise integration solution ensures that data can be seamlessly exchanged across different systems and applications, making it available to the right individual in the right place and at the right time. download (432kb, PDF) >

A Better Model for Health Care

An innovative experiment in Florida shows the potential for more systemic collaboration as the catalyst for lower costs and improved quality. read more >

Health Insurance Gets Personal

As reform legislation makes the U.S. healthcare industry more consumer-centric, companies will need to change their business models and add new capabilities. read more >

From Hidden Gems to Crown Jewels: Opportunities for Strategic Diversification for U.S. Health Plans

As health plans find themselves under increased financial and political pressure, many are questioning the long-term viability of their current business models. As a result, some plans have chosen to place “side bets,” or diversify, and more will likely follow. download (249kb, PDF) >

Pharmaceutical Companies in the Economic Storm: Navigating from a Position of Strength

Historically, the pharmaceutical sector has been less and later exposed to economic fluctuations, but is that true in the current crisis? This Perspective examines the impact of the crisis on pharmaceutical companies and discusses strategic moves they can make now to manage their way through the crisis and emerge in a stronger position. download (308kb, PDF) >

Beyond the Blockbuster: Lean Manufacturing and Restructuring in Pharma

For many years, production led a hardworking but underappreciated "Cinderella existence" within the pharmaceutical industry. Senior executives tended to overlook production and the entire supply chain. As long as production manufactured enough high-quality, compliant products to satisfy market demand, few executives considered it a crucial aspect of the business, and even fewer considered it a possible source of competitive advantage. download (412kb, PDF) >

Optimizing E-Health Value: Using an Investment Model to Build a Foundation for Program Success

Electronic health (e-health) initiatives that apply information technology to the delivery of healthcare services for patients and management of clinical information are an essential weapon in the battle against the rising costs and other sys­temic problems in healthcare. A customizable investment model can help guide policymakers as they seek to define, implement, and gain acceptance of viable e-health programs. download (562kb, PDF) >

The Pharmacy Solution: An Expanding Role for Pharmacies in Healthcare Delivery

Convenient retail pharmacies with trusted staff could play an important part in expanding access to healthcare while driving down cost. However, to make a truly transformative impact on healthcare, pharmacies must overcome structural barriers and explore new business models. download (250kb, PDF) >

Deal or No Deal? Outcomes from a Decade of Healthcare M&A

Despite the economic climate, many companies in the healthcare sector remain very well capitalized. And with the capital markets re-opening, we see growing momentum to re-evaluate portfolios and to exploit today’s price environment. In this study, published at the Social Science Research Network, we studied 1,750 healthcare deals over the 1998-2008 period, to identify common themes behind winning/losing deals. read more >

Social CRM: How Companies Can Link into the Social Web of Consumers

Social networking and other new technologies have given rise to the “social consumer.” Navigating this new world requires a new way of approaching customer relationship management, commonly called social CRM. In addition to their traditional CRM tools and processes, companies must rethink their product, channel, and customer strategies in order to build an entirely new relationship with their customers through greater transparency. download (437kb, PDF) >

Global Talent Innovation: Strategies for Breakthrough Performance

Managing talent well creates value for companies — that’s the bottom line. To remain competitive, particularly in difficult times, they must not only cut costs; they must also seize future advantage by revamping their talent management strategies and developing more innovative value propositions, in line with the changing demographics of a more mobile, diverse, and global workforce. download (1.2mb, PDF) >

Zero-Based Cost Management: A Holistic Approach to Managing Budgets

In the current economic environment, there is increasing interest in the concept of "zero-basing" cost and activity levels. Although the concept of zero-basing is understood in theory, it is often misapplied. A structured and pragmatic approach to zero-basing can help achieve sustainable cost reduction while protecting key activities./p> download (465kb, PDF) >

Sales Force Design: Assessing Stark Choices and Getting It Right

The structure and productivity of sales forces have turned into major concerns for many C-level executives. Every sales force redesign needs to address two fundamental questions: How many sales forces are needed? And what is the optimal reporting structure? It also needs to be executed flawlessly. download (382kb, PDF) >

Which Innovation Efforts Will Pay?

Many companies struggle to boost the returns they achieve on their R&D projects. Booz & Company partner Alexander Kandybin discusses the benefits and the limits of the Return on Innovation Investment (ROI2) methodology in this article from the MIT Sloan Management Review. download (1.1mb, PDF) >