Not your father's health care.

Abstract

We in health care are living and working in a world that, for all its technical changes, differs little in its basic assumptions, structures, payment systems, beliefs, expectations, and job titles from the world of health care a generation back. How much change can we expect over the coming years? A lot more than we are prepared for. Look at the array of new technologies headed our way, from genomic sciences to customized vaccinations. Many of the breakthroughs promise incredible abilities to prevent disease, to profile our proclivities, and to manage our genetic predispositions over long periods of time, rather than merely wait until the disease manifests in an acute phase, then treat the symptoms. Digital technologies bring physicians executives enormous opportunities for new ways of gathering, storing, and mining information, for new types of communication between medical professionals, for new communications with customers, and new ways of steering large, complex enterprises. Unprecedented opportunities for change keep piling in through the door. Vast pressures for change keep building from every side. And the rewards for anyone who can lead the change keep compounding.