Publications
Publications
- March–April 2024
- Harvard Business Review
Retailers and Health Systems Can Improve Care Together
By: Robert S. Huckman, Vivian S. Lee and Bradley R Staats
Abstract
Health systems are struggling to address the many shortcomings of health care delivery: rapidly growing costs, inconsistent quality, and inadequate and unequal access to primary and other types of care. However, if retailers and health systems were to form strong partnerships, they could play a major role in addressing these megachallenges. While some partnerships do exist, they are rare and have only scratched the surface of their potential. Rather than focusing on the direct-to-consumer model that retailers have largely employed, the partnerships should offer much broader care.
Drawing on real-world examples, the authors outline four key actions that retailers and health systems should take: (1) They must move beyond convenience to offer comprehensive care. (2) They should move care from clinics into the home. (3) They should leverage data to improve clinical care and the customer experience. And (4) they should change how—and by whom—health care work is done. Implementing these four actions would generate improvements that would benefit not just patients but also the organizations that pay for their health care.
Keywords
Health Care; Retail; Retailers; Consumer; Health Care and Treatment; Value; Consumer Behavior; Business Model; Partners and Partnerships; Health Industry; Retail Industry; United States
Citation
Huckman, Robert S., Vivian S. Lee, and Bradley R Staats. "Retailers and Health Systems Can Improve Care Together." Harvard Business Review 102, no. 2 (March–April 2024): 120–127.