Understanding America’s Evolving Healthcare Ecosystem
Welcome to the Kellogg Healthcare Alumni Network. Creating this group is an exciting step forward as we continue to grow the healthcare program at Kellogg. This network will serve as both a way for our healthcare alumni to connect with each other and for Kellogg’s professors and thought leaders to connect with our alumni. We plan to have a variety of virtual and in-person programming to facilitate these interactions.
As a member of the Kellogg Healthcare Alumni Network, you will receive a regular email from me describing a recent article or paper about the business of healthcare. These emails will cover a range of topics and areas in healthcare. Over time, more Kellogg professors and thought leaders will contribute as well.
To begin this series, I’m including a link to a recent Kellogg Insight webinar regarding the changing nature of the healthcare ecosystem. Throughout this webinar I discuss the ways in which each traditionally siloed vertical within healthcare is now far more interconnected than has previously been the case.
This growing interconnected pattern is driven by an attempt to align incentives towards providing more efficient and valuable care. Evidence of this can be seen when incumbent firms such as UnitedHealth Group and Humana increase the number of medical providers they employ. It can be seen by new entrants into the market such as Oak Street Health, ChenMed, and VillageMD — all of whom are providing more intensive primary care services in a way that attempts to reduce future spending. We also see this in the exploding world of cell and gene therapy where pharmaceutical firms must work more closely with providers to both identify patients and administer treatments.
Understanding the ways in which the business models of firms are increasingly entwined can help identify threats and opportunities. Helping executives, alumni, and students to understand the potential impacts of these changes has always been the focus of the healthcare program at Kellogg and through the creation of this industry specific alumni network we hope to expand our efforts in this area.