17th Annual Harvard Business School Healthcare Conference.

Mary D. Maher, MD
Fellow in Neuroradiology at MGH
PGY-4

02/23/2020

Harvard Business School Healthcare Conference

My most important lesson learned at the 17^th annual Harvard Business School Healthcare Conference is how important it is for physicians to participate in the present healthcare conversation. The conference was fascinating. I never dreamt of a healthcare conference existing that was not framed in the perspective of medicine! Yet, there I was surrounded largely by business women and men discussing the delivery of patientcare. Realizing that an entire economic system creates and fuels the delivery of medicine (seen as the delivery of a healthcare product) can go so right or so wrong, and we have seen both.

Learning about the difference models for healthcare delivery, the challenges of gender and social inequity, cultural differences and the importance of access to mental health care and nutrition highlighted niches that leadership and innovation can make the greatest impact.

The theme of the conference focused on caring for patients as whole persons. The committee beautifully chose eloquent, successful speakers who felt called to “make their mark” on humanity as encouraged by opening speaker Mr. Javier Rodriquez of DaVita. Those who are blessed with opportunity and intelligence can use their gifts to benefit others and genuinely improve the lives of people as we will each one day take turns being patients.

Business women and men bring important skill sets to healthcare delivery innovation and infrastructure to design systems that are sustainable. While appropriate and high-quality medical care is the responsibility and the privilege of physicians, nurses and medical staff, successfully access and delivery of healthcare requires infrastructure and the re-invention of that infrastructure based on the close collaboration of all healthcare workers. The best models require the minds and skill sets of all, and clinical input is critical to ensure successful implementation of theory into practice.

Several panelists were physicians who expanded their personal mission of caring for patients to a broader systems-based and policy-based approach. However, from the entire Massachusetts General/Brigham system, an important institution for the development of future physician leaders, there were only three physician trainees. We need greater participation from the medical field if we want to have a say in how medical care is delivered. The relationship of medicine and business can be symbiotic and should be used to push the current state of healthcare into a truly healthier and happier future for all. If we want our experience, opinions and data to help mold the future of healthcare, we need to start participating in this conversation in the present.