Disruptive Innovation: Can Health Care Learn From Other Industries?: "Both Toyota and Southwest Airlines had similar roots as these hospitals in Thailand or India or Tijuana, in that at the beginning their cost advantage was really rooted in lower-cost resources, primarily labor. But labor is a very transitory economic advantage. And if they're going to survive, they have to transform what is a labor cost advantage into process-based advantages. And so Wal-Mart did that, and Southwest Airlines did that, and Toyota did that. I would bet that the hospital in Tijuana doesn't follow fundamentally different processes than one in America. Maybe they do. But the very fact that they're there--I would expect that competition over time forces them to create and improve processes, which then will come back to the United States, just as Toyota's processes have come back to the United States in the plants that Toyota builds in the United States. So I guess I would say that 'medical tourism' is the first step. A 'self-pay' scenario makes people much more sensitive to cost differentials and encourages them to look for a market for lower-cost solutions, and we see Americans seeking out these medical and surgical services abroad, so you really would have to call this a disruptive innovation."
Medical tourism is going to shake-up the US healthcare industry and force doctors to become more patient-friendly and competitive !
Dr. Malpani:
ReplyDeleteYour blog presents a very interesting perspective! I am wondering how I can get in contact with you. I am working on Disruptive Innovations in Health, let's discuss! I am working at Ashoka and I think you are starting an interesting discussion here. Please contact me at tahn at ashoka dot org.