Healthcare and medicine are two fields that loom large throughout the world. They touch each of our lives in very personal ways. Healthcare and medicine also represent enormous segments of our global economy. The global pharmaceutical industry was worth nearly $900 billion in 2011, for example. Total health expenditures in the United States alone now top $2.5 trillion, or about 18 percent of GDP. As more people live longer and at higher standards, worldwide healthcare expenditures are expected to grow significantly in the coming decades.
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We here at Kellogg Insight thought it would be appropriate to gather a portion of the Kellogg School’s recent research on healthcare and medicine. First, Blake McShane, an assistant professor of marketing, puts his vast statistical expertise to use helping doctors and scientists better understand sleep. On the other end of the research-to-bedside spectrum, Adam Waytz, an assistant professor of management and organizations, details how modern medicine has a way of dehumanizing patients and offers solutions to counter those problems. Craig Garthwaite, an assistant professor of management and strategy, investigates both how economics can affect health and how changes in the law can affect doctors’ work hours.
Itai Gurvich looks at another part of the healthcare system, one we often ignore until we need it most—emergency care. He delves into the issue of ambulance diversions, asking whether they really do prevent overcrowding in emergency rooms. Finally, with the U.S. Supreme Court expected to rule on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act this month, we turn to Leemore Dafny, an associate professor of management and strategy. Her research explores what a health insurance exchange might look like for employees of large firms, not just individuals or employees of small firms as provided for in the PPACA.
If you are interested in reading more on these topics, check the Kellogg Insight archives. We also have faculty who blog frequently on the topic at The Operations Room and Code Red.
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