Consider the johnny. This standard-issue garment at a doctor’s office or hospital — unstylish, uncomfortable, tied in back to ill effect — is an apt metaphor for many personal encounters with the U.S. health care system. We feel vulnerable. Anonymous. Parted from everyday life. A company that triggered those emotions would not survive for long.
Take heart: Work by Bentley faculty like Danielle Hartigan and alumni such as Karl Wagner ’87 shows providers moving to treat patients more like the health care consumers they are. Our cover story, starting on page 11, explores the emerging customer-focused mindset and other business strategies with potential to improve the quality, cost and delivery of care.
Elsewhere inside, the partnership between business and health care gets personal. The topic is drug development; our experts are Lance Colwell ’92 of biotech giant Biogen and a Bentley family living with a gut-wrenching diagnosis. Their paths connect in a surprising way, which came to light thanks to a third alumnus (and one very high peak). We appreciate the courage and honesty of all involved.
These stories suggest a measure of optimism in contentious times. At Bentley and elsewhere, there’s collaboration underway that promises better solutions for social ills. Complex issues are best addressed with expertise from across business sectors and academic disciplines. Let’s say fewer walls, more bridges. As for that johnny situation? Paging Calvin Klein.
Stay well and stay in touch.
Susan Simpson
Editor