Free Course: Innovating in Health Care (Harvard Univ.)

• Harvard University.
• As thought in March 2014.
• Course Length: 11 weeks.

This is a past/archived course. At this time, you can only explore this course in a self-paced fashion. Certain features of this course may not be active, but many people enjoy watching the videos and working with the materials.
________________________________________________________________________________

Problems with health care quality, access, and costs bedevil all countries. This course focuses on creating successful global business innovations in health care that can better meet consumer and societal needs. At its end, you should understand the how to evaluate opportunities and the elements of viable business models for different kinds of health care innovations.

Innovating in Health Care (IHC) enables participants to meet and interact with others who are also interested in improving health care. The course focuses on evaluating and crafting business models that attain alignment between an entrepreneurial health care venture and the six factors that critically shape new health care ventures - Financing, Structure, Public Policy, Consumers, Technology, and Accountability. Innovating in Health Care discusses the impact of these factors on business models for three different kinds of innovations: consumer-focused, technology-driven, and integrations which create scale.

You will learn:

• How to distinguish successful innovations from those likely to fail
• How to determine if an innovation is aligned with its environment
• Which elements make up a viable competitive strategy for an innovative health care venture
• How other elements combine to create a feasible business model for an innovative health care venture
• How to create a business plan

The course is conducted through lectures about assessing and creating a business plan and with case studies that describe decisions facing real entrepreneurial health firms and requires you to analyze these potential decisions through the IHC framework. Participants are taught how to use the case method and how to evaluate business plans. In addition, these lessons are highlighted by insights from the top global health care innovators.