Last week’s most-read stories in SmartBrief for Health Care Leaders looked at competition for US health care in the Caymans, the priorities of the leader of America’s Health Insurance Plans, a potential megamerger and the best health care companies for innovation.
Could a Cayman Islands hospital be a competitive threat to US?
Health City Cayman Islands hopes providing quality medical care for 50% to 60% less than what it would cost in the US will draw American medical tourists. Northeastern University business professor Ravi Ramamurti says Americans perceive health care outside the US to be of lower quality, and he does not see Health City as a competitive threat now, but says US providers could learn from it.
Full Story: PBS
Why affordability is health care’s biggest challenge
Cost and affordability are the most significant challenges for health care, America’s Health Insurance Plans CEO Matt Eyles said in this interview. “I think we’re at a tipping point in terms of what we can afford both at a sort of systemic level and at an individual level,” Eyles said.
Full Story: USA Today
Obstacles and opportunities for HCSC-Anthem megamerger
The recent departure of top leaders at Health Care Service Corp. could pave the way for a merger with Anthem and other Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans, but the companies’ differing ownership structures could be a barrier. While sources indicate HCSC’s board is looking for bigger-picture thinking about deals and strategy, regulatory hurdles may be too high to overcome.
Full Story: Forbes
Merck, Regeneron, J&J make list of top workplaces for innovation
A list of the top 50 organizations for innovation, created by Fast Company and Accenture, include the health care companies Genentech, Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. Smaller health companies on the list include a primary care practice that pairs physicians with engineers to develop new technology, a lab automation company, and a marketing and commercialization specialist that runs innovation labs.
Full Story: Fast Company online
CEOs find paths to success through team-building, failures
Yale New Haven Health CEO Marna Borgstrom says it’s one thing to create a plan, but another to understand how to implement it, so successful CEOs need to muster a team and set a direction. Banner-University Medical Center CEO Steve Narang says tolerating failure and maintaining high standards can co-exist and must be modeled from the top, meaning CEOs must be vulnerable and acknowledge their mistakes.
Full Story: HealthLeaders Media
Tom Parks is a health editor at SmartBrief who focuses on health care, leadership and nursing as well as care at the beginning and end of life. He launched and edits the SmartBrief for Health Care Leaders newsletter.
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This “most read” feature reflects the most read items in SmartBrief for Health Care Leaders from the previous week. Sign up for SmartBrief for Health Care Leaders to get news like this in your inbox, or check out all of SmartBrief’s health care newsletters, covering health IT, news for insurers, news for providers and more.