When physicians are asked to state the relative risks of classical predictors of heart disease (such as smoking or diabetes) many, according to this article, are likely to cite a figure of between "10 to 15 times." This is not only wrong, it is dangerously wide of the mark. Most of the predictors have only [...]
Start Treating Employees Like Customers
November 15, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Here is a novel idea many employers might want to begin implementing: start treating your employees like customers. Why? Because it can save money. I recently came across this article explaining how Genentech has begun developing apps to help make its sales force more productive. One problem area identified by the company was that sales [...]
Am I — and Your CFO — to Blame for Spiraling Health Care Costs?
February 6, 2010 By 1 Comment
Earlier today I had the opportunity to deliver the closing keynote presentation at the Alabama Hospitals Associations' Annual Leadership Conference. Before my talk, I had the great pleasure of listening to Bill Ward, the director of the Master Health Administration Degree at the Johns Hopkins University's Bloomberg School of Public Health. At one point, Bill brought [...]
Unlearning Knee, Back and Spinal Surgery
August 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on not understanding it." Upton Sinclair I really enjoy the above quote because there is so much truth to it. I was especially reminded of the quote after reading this article about the efficacy of spinal surgery in today's Wall Street Journal. According [...]
Unlearn the Future, Today
June 8, 2009 By 1 Comment
Effective today, June 8, 2009, General Motors and Citigroup are no longer components of the Dow 30. In and of itself this news has no great relevance, but it does highlight how fast today’s economy continues to change. As I mentioned the other day on my other blog (www.jumpthecurve.net), many people think that "tomorrow will [...]
Unlearning Disease
September 12, 2008 By Leave a Comment
With all of the information now pulsing around us, it is easy to forget that "we don’t know what we don’t know." I constantly try to remind my clients in the health care sector of this simple fact. A case-in-point is the extraordinary strides being made in the field of genomics — which, due to [...]
Pharmaceutical Industry Needs to Unlearn
July 11, 2008 By Leave a Comment
In 2003, I wrote the book, ”The Next Big Thing is Really Small: How Nanotechnology Will Change the Future of Your Business.” In it, I outlined the many ways in which nanotechnology will impact the pharmaceutical industry in the near future. Recently, researchers at Children’s Hospital in Boston have uncovered a method of reviving a [...]
