Charged with leading multi-million dollar initiatives in Canada's health care industry, Dr. Hameed Khan of Alberta Innovates understands the challenges that currently face the system when it comes to maximizing value for money. That's why he wanted to enhance his skills in this area, and it's why he sought new perspectives in the Value Measurement for Health Care program at Harvard Business School (HBS). For his work, Dr. Khan was recently selected as one of the Top 40 Under 40 individuals by Avenue Edmonton magazine. He discusses how the program has changed the way he thinks about the future.
Above all, I have a clearer understanding of why a focus on improving patient outcomes is more important than controlling costs. By focusing too much on cost, and not on patient outcomes, we are likely to save a few cents while missing out on opportunities to save big time dollars. The program not only focused on the high-level philosophy of directly associating value in healthcare with improving patient outcomes, but also provided concrete methodologies on how to do it—with real-world examples. It was a great experience.
I have implemented what I learned in several ways. First, when developing programs that achieve improvements in health care, my focus is now on improving patient outcomes and not solely on saving money—they go hand in hand. In fact, the very definition and focus of "value" has changed our perception of "value" in the healthcare system. I have used the time-driven activity-based costing approach to help health care units in Alberta develop costing models for specific patients and care pathways, which in turn will help them develop bundled pricing and make informed decisions pertaining to the resource allocation. Overall, what I learned in the program has transformed my view on improving health care. It's clear to me that the knowledge I walked away with is essential for creating an efficient and sustainable future for this industry.
Going forward, I will continue to use what I learned in building our initiatives pertaining to health care. Before I attended this program, our efforts were focused on managing costs—but today we make multi-million-dollar investments that are focused on improving value in healthcare. This program has changed the way I look at the health care ecosystem.
The overall experience was fantastic. I found it to be highly structured and well planned. For instance, the rooms were purposefully constructed so that we spent more time in the lounge—that's an innovative idea! These and other design innovations were very useful in "nudging" our behavior in order to promote communication and learning. This in combination with faculty members such as Michael Porter and Robert Kaplan teaching the course material in a Harvard style and setting left a lasting impression with resounding take-home messages.
Value Measurement for Health Care allows you to view health care through a different lens, and it helps you understand a cutting-edge framework that's now being implemented in many places around the world. My experience in the program has made it clear to me that this is going to be the norm for health care in the future. It is logical.
