OwenBloggers: Isha - MBA '08

Footballer dreams

Too bad there is no sound with pictures. I walked into 8:10 cafe and the room was full with people watching football.  The real kind played with a round ball and none of that protective gear...   It was pretty amazing.  For the 10 minutes that I was here the place was alive and buzzing with life. I have seen so many games being watched here, but rarely do they have such excitement exhibited like it was today. Not even the Vandy basketball games. UEFA brings people together...

Match of the day was Liverpool - Chelsea 1:1

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Weekend catch-up: Alumni, Incoming class, and lots of work

I kept on putting it off: when I have more time to think I’ll write – I thought. But there is no “more time” anywhere in my near future, so here is the recap of last weekend.

Oh, the buzz of excitement!  This weekend was a combination of great fun and lots of work (at least for me). Friday night was a combined reception for Owen Alums and beginning of the Welcome Weekend for the MBA class of 2010 and MSF and MACC class of 2009. As much as the night was fun, I had to cut the celebrations short, since my Saturday stated at 8 am with a breakfast at Owen. Then it was meetings, meetings, and more meetings with a brief break for Welcome Weekend lunch. I met a LOT of great people on Friday and Saturday – the incoming class is a great mix of personalities and backgrounds. Almost makes me wish I had another year at Owen to get to know them. One thing I am convinced of is that the incoming class will be a great addition to Owen family. YOU WILL LOVE IT HERE! Yes, you know who you are.

After the mingling with new students was done, the real work began. After a full day at Owen on Saturday, I moved into the library on Sunday. Somehow, this is not how I envisioned my last two weeks at Owen to be so schoolwork busy…

Song of the day:
Jack Johnson - What You Though You Need

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Beauty of the Google Reader

If there is a shadow of a doubt why I'm not writing, then I have a one word answer: finals. But I am trying to keep up with my daily blogs - reading them that is. That's why I love google reader. There are probably other feed aggregators out there that do a spectacular job of keeping it all organized, but it's not about the engine, it's about the content.  As I plough through 100+ blogs (on a slow day) it's great to have the opportunity to star items to come back later.  So right now I have more starred items then unread ones --> things to come back to when I have some time (anytime after 9pm CST today that is). And there is plenty to get excited about: malaria, vaccines, politics, healthcare costs, antidepressants, airlines and biofuel, inflation, and old ladies. The last one is a real treat...

Life at Owen does get intense sometimes. You can see it in the faces that pass you by at the school over the past few days. I don't think the first years feel it yet, but even though many of 2008 class have jobs already, we are still here to learn. And sometimes learning is hard...

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Our chasers are salty

I’ve been doing research on Doritos and in general on Frito-Lay brands trying to figure out the positioning they use, estimate target demographics, etc., so my group can figure out if the current  promotions of Doritos are in line with the target groups. (I hope they are since I am sorry to say that I absolutely don’t get this year’s Super Bowl commercial.) As I am cruising the internet searching for useful bits of information, I came across this blog about Lay’s dill pickle chips. The author talks about drinking vodka like a Russian. I don’t know about smelling bread, but in Poland we definitely use salty things as a chaser. And rarely it’s in a liquid form… Dill pickles make spectacular  chasers, so does kielbasa (and no it has nothing to do with the imitation of goodness that you can purchase in American supermarkets), bread is a good choice, but so is marinated herring (yes, a fish in vinegar). Then again herring in oil is pretty good too, especially if served it with onions and bread. Yummy! And although all of this might sound a bit odd, I just would like to add that we have a different drinking culture, and parties can be a bit different then you would see at Owen’s Thursday night socials... 

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The smell of food in the lobby

Don't be surprised, the smell of food in the lobby has a powerful impact on students. It's like a magnet that holds them and keeps them around even if they might have had other plans. Apparently nothing attracts MBAs more then free food.  As en example, last Thursday the The Office of Development and Alumni Relations put on cocktails and hors d’oeuvres Mardi Gras style. The lobby was full of hungry students. I admit, I was on my way home when the smell of fried chicken hit my nostrils and it didn't take long for me to have a hurricane in my hand. I am sure that some of the students came in with the single idea in mind - interact with alums. However, I am convinced that Owen staff is well aware how free food affects students and they take full advantage of it.

Talking of food, the discover weekend is here and I signed up to show my support for Owen and to tell of the indecisive students out there that Owen is the place to be. And no, free food did not play a role in it - I got up and out of bed because I care. I can eat breakfast at home you know... Unfortunately, I missed last night event (which I hear was a lot of fun) so my interaction with the prospective students is so far fairly limited. But not all is lost, there is still lunch and then there are drinks on town at night. Too bad it's two weeks before finals, or I would be in a much more celebratory mood. 

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WBA Symposium – a day of difficult questions

The WBA Symposium was a great idea. I was impressed with the array of women that attended. Shame that men were too scared to come, they would have learned a lot. Some of the crucial issues revolved around family life.

What to do when you want to leave the job market? And what do you do when you want to get back?

It’s not the question of quitting a job, but taking a break for what ever reason one chooses. Be it having/raising kids, taking time off to come back to school, or to be an expat wife in some exotic (or not so exotic) country. There is a good chance that you will want to take a break from being in the workforce or at least in the corporate setting. This might primarily apply to women, but don’t be fooled, there are plenty of men that take a break and have no idea how to get back “on the horse.” The first panel I attended was very interesting, because it touched upon many fears and uncertainties of re-entering the workforce. We discussed strategies to enhance the resume, i.e. putting your home experience on your resume (after all, we are often the CEO’s, CFO’s, COO’s and other C’s of our homes) and how to stay on top of ever changing technology. We even touched on working for non-profits and volunteer work – both of which can be great resume assets if used properly. The idea is not to loose touch with the business world, but rather to maintain it and to take advantage of the time off to learn new things and expand your knowledge base.

Love thy Outlook? - Marriage woes of the career minded

In today’s world a woman getting an MBA is very likely to end up in a dual career household. And his career might be on a different track then yours, going as fast but in a different direction. So what do you do? A panel of three successful women and one successful husband answered questions about juggling your career and your marriage (and kids, and various other small animals) in a dual career household. We discussed various techniques from using outlook meeting requests to block out family time to division of chores and the main takeaways from the discussion were communication, and learn how to do it well, financial responsibility of each partner – participation upkeep of your home, and lastly, how not to sacrifice your career for him and/or for the kids.

Personal Strategy

A quick strategy lesson is all you need to remind you of where you are going with your life. Dean Bradford served us a refresher course in strategy and how to apply Porter’s five forces to personal strategy. I never imagined writing a personal business plan, but when the dean asked who has written one and several of the women rose their hands I thought that maybe there is logic to it. As the presentation progressed I saw exactly why writing a plan was not only a good idea, but seemed almost crucial to further career development. Writing any business plan forces us to think of the future and consider pros and cons of the proposed solutions. It also asks where you want to be in five or ten years. And suddenly personal strategy has a whole new meaning – it focuses us and gives us direction. And the best thing is that we learn what we really want and what awaits us on the way.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Owen Graduate School of Management, MBA, Women's Business Association, Networking, Vanderbilt, Business School, Personal Strategy, Work-Life Balance

WBA networking night

It’s not all that easy to describe what a room full of business women feels like. You may ask why it’s difficult. On one hand it’s simple, we behave differently. On the other it’s more then that. There is no boasting how great we are, what we have achieved. There is no ego trip or a power struggle to dominate the room, the conversation, or what ever else one wants to show off. But last night at the Women's Business Association Networking Conference there was a buzz of excitement as business women, at various stages of their careers, talked about how to be successful. Conversations ranged from babies to startups, and went through the whole array of “what are doing,” “what do you want to do,” and “here is my card, let me know if I can help you in your career search.” It was a great evening, and having a massage therapist giving a quick pick me up massages was a spectacular idea. I can’t wait for today’s events, to meet all the wonderful women and to hear their stories of success.

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Operacja udana, pacjent zmarł

Kilka lat temu był dowcip, którego puentą było stwierdzenie, że operacja się udała, ale pacjent nie żyje. To mi trochę przypomina dzisiejszą sytuację reformy służby zdrowia. To, że pacjent ledwo zipie nie jest chyba dla nikogo rewelacją. (Jeśli jest uprzejmie proszę o podanie nazwy oraz dostępności spożywanego specyfiku, który powoduje tak zupełnie zidiocenie.) Problem leży nie w sytuacji jako takiej, ale raczej w próbach naprawy. Każdy kolejny rząd „operuje” na pacjencie, ale z jakiegoś dziwnego powodu jest coraz gorzej...

Najpierw kilka założeń, bo bez tego ani rusz:

• Polską służbę zdrowia da się naprawić. W miarę podstawowe stwierdzenie, ale nie wszyscy to wiedzą.
• Istnieją ludzie kompetentni, tzn. tacy, co mają pojęcie i o służbie zdrowia i o zarządzaniu. Mały problem: nie wiadomo czy są tacy w Polsce, a jeśli są, to dlaczego siedzą cicho jak myszy pod miotłą?
• Są systemy na świecie, które funkcjonują w miarę dobrze i można by je naśladować.
• Służba zdrowia nie ogranicza się do szpitali i przychodni. W jej skład wchodzą wszystkie firmy, które mają cokolwiek wspólnego ze zdrowiem: apteki, dystrybucja leków, wszelkiego rodzaju produkcja preparatów i urządzeń leczniczych i medycznych (czyli nawet firmy produkuj
• ące łóżka szpitalne), fundusze inwestycyjne zajmujące się inwestycjami w służbę zdrowia, no i oczywiście ubezpieczyciele.

Kompletna prywatyzacja służby zdrowia, bez wliczonego elementu socjalnego, jest poronionym pomysłem. W Stanach Zjednoczonych, gdzie prywatna służba zdrowia działa od kilkudziesięciu lat, sytuacja staje się tragiczna. Ponad 40 milionów Amerykanów nie ma ubezpieczenia, czyli nie ma dostępu do opieki zdrowotnej. Prawie drugie tyle ma ubezpieczenie, ale jest ono tak marne, że równie dobrze mogłoby go nie być. Cała opieka zdrowotna, poczynając na przeziębieniach a na wszelkiego rodzaju wypadkach kończąc, jest uzyskiwana przez izby przyjęć w szpitalach. Kto z nas nie pamięta serialu Ostry Dyżur? W prawie w każdym odcinku, w poczekalni siedzi kilkadziesiąt osób, które czekają godzinami na szanse zobaczenia się z lekarzem. To jest rzeczywistość, a nie artystyczna interpretacja życia przez scenarzystów. Dla tych, co potrzebują  trochę więcej informacji, proponuję zajrzeć do artykułu BusinessWeek na temat oczekiwania na wizytę u lekarza pierwszego kontaktu. Jednym z głównych punktów programowych kandydatów na prezydenta, jest właśnie nieograniczony dostęp do służby zdrowia. Czy na prawdę naszym celem jest ograniczenie dostępu do służby zdrowia?

El-commandante słusznie stwierdza w swoim blogu, że są inne sposoby finansowana szpitali, nie tylko prywatyzacja. I chociaż przyznaję mu po części rację, to jednak uważam, że prywatyzacja szpitali jest potrzebna. Placówki budżetowe mają tendencję do nieliczenia się z kosztami. Należy jednak  pamiętać, że rozliczanie się z NFZ-etem na podstawie faktycznych kosztów jest lekko problematyczne, bo nie daje szpitalom zarobić, czyli ogranicza rozwój. Placówki lecznicze powinny miecz szansę na specjalizację w zależności od potrzeb lokalnych, a nie od tego, czy obecny minister zdrowia, pan/pani X, przez kilka miesięcy swoich rządów nie dojdzie do wniosku, że przydałoby się przekwalifikować profil danego szpitala, bo kolega pan/pani X potrzebuje się wykazać. Prywatna placówka jest zależna od popytu na daną usługę i gdy podaż jest zbyt duża szpital będzie musiał się dostosować do konsumentów.

Musimy zacząć myśleć o sobie jako o konsumentach służby zdrowia, i przestać patrzeć na siebie jak na pacjentów. Bo dopiero w takim stanie świadomości będziemy mogli patrzeć na zapotrzebowanie na usługi tak jak w każ dej innej dziedzinie gospodarki.

Zajmując się zagadnieniami zarządzania służbą zdrowia na co dzień trudno jest mi w jednym blogu powiedzieć – to rozwiązanie jest jedyne słuszne. Żeby naprawić Polską służbę zdrowia, musimy zająć się całą masą innych zagadnień. Uwalniając szpitale od budżetu uwalniamy lekarzy od odgórnie ustalonych płac, czyli odbieramy im powód do strajków. W prywatnych placówkach będą dostawać taką pensję a) na jaką stać placówkę oraz b) ile warte są ich usługi. Z góry mówię, że to ma duże szanse wywołać perturbacje w dostarczaniu opieki, ale jest to sprawa tymczasowa. Przy okazji pozwoli to na zatrzymanie młodych lekarzy w kraju, bo nagle wyjazd do pracy za granicę przestanie być aż tak atrakcyjny. I może nie od razu, ale zrobi nam się więcej lekarzy. Podobna sytuacja będzie z pielęgniarkami.

No dobrze i co dalej?

Tak na prawdę, to każdy „system” ma swoje ciemne strony. Z trendów światowych wynika, że opieka zdrowotna powinna mieć dwa poziomy: podstawowy oraz dodatkowy.

Podstawowy obejmuje wszystkich i zapewnia zasadniczy poziom opieki: lekarz pierwszego kontaktu, szczepienia, prewencja, etc. Dodatkowy obejmuje bardziej wyrafinowane świadczenia, w zależności od tego ile chcemy płacić miesięcznie, możemy mieć takie luksusy jak pokoje jednoosobowe w szpitalu, lżejszy gips przy złamaniach, czy też specjaliści bez dopłat. Ubezpieczenie podstawowe powinno gwarantować każdej osobie płacącej składki minimum socjalne. Reszta zależy od naszej kieszenie. Owszem istnieje kwestia wysokości składek w tych prywatnych ubezpieczeniach. Bo sposób naliczania może bardzo podzielić szczególnie, gdy weźmiemy pod uwagę osoby „dużego ryzyka”, czyli kogokolwiek z jakimkolwiek schorzeniem. Bo w końcu mówimy przecież o firmach, które chcą mieć jak najwięcej zdrowych klientów żeby przez przypadek za nich nic nie płacić…

Brak nam również osób, które są wstanie zarządzać służbą zdrowia. Nie lekarzy, bo ci powinni leczyć, a nie bawić się szpital, tylko ludzi z doświadczeniem i zapleczem w tej dziedzinie. A takich ze świecą szukać. Służba zdrowia nie jest branżą podobną do innych. Z jednej strony jest państwo, które wchodzi do łóżka z butami. Z drugiej społeczeństwo, które tak a nie inaczej zapatruje się na to co się komu należy. Z trzeciej akcjonariusze, bo jak prywatne to przecież ktoś musi w to zainwestować. I tak dalej.

Niestety, zajmie nam parę lat zanim „wyhodujemy” sobie odpowiednią kadrę zarządczą, problem na razie w tym, że nie ma motywacji (jak najbardziej finansowej) dla młodych ludzi żeby szkolić się w tym zakresie. Nie ma również szkół, które byłyby wstanie wyprodukować nieprzeciętnych zarządców w tej dziedzinie. A z doświadczenia wiem, jak trudno jest to wszystko zrozumieć.

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One man’s trash, another man’s treasure

I don’t respond well to certain types of marketing: if it’s not an envelope and in my mailbox then it’s trash. Sometimes envelopes share that fate. Mass mailings – not my thing. But not that I have a sales promotion assignment looming over me, I am suddenly noticing all the intricate campaigns out there. There is the ever existing “let me shove a flyer into your bag as you are overpaying for your school books” campaign, the weekly grocery flyers, the mail from my favorite credit card with another $20 gift certificate only redeemable at a certain department store chain (closest one in Atlanta), Geico’s we will insure your car for less (oh wait I don’t have a car, so I REALLY need car insurance), and so may others.

On loyalty programs: That’s a tricky one. I’m a grad student, and as grad students go, we don’t exactly have a lot of spare cash, so retailer’s loyalty programs are a special breed for me. Like a majority of my fellow students my key chain is full of loyalty program tags. I’m a proud owner of a CVS card, Kroger’s card, Harris Teeter card… You get the idea. I am loyal to every single of those places as long as it guarantees me a lower price. Besides, when you are dependant on others for grocery shopping, you go where they take you and being prepared for all instances is very important. Hence loyalty programs might be a miss for majority of price shoppers, then again, who am I to judge?

Proof of what? I am sure that my team will be able to conquer the issue of premiums, but for me, it would be a formidable challenge. It takes too much time to do, and apparently my consumption levels are too low to ever get enough bar codes to qualify. Besides, it takes too much time and effort to remember to mail something. The only difference are mail-in rebates, but that’s just because cash in pocket is a good thing, especially when the check suddenly appears in the mailbox. Another issue is the probability that I will find the premium appealing. Come on, do I really want that “free” keychain or what ever it is the manufacturer is tempting me with? Probably not.

Coupons – who needs them? One of the more annoying things in my mailbox is a packet of coupons that magically appears on weekly basis, including a booklet that offers “specta cular” deals for restaurants in places like Murphysboro and Lebanon. I think they are a little off on their target market. I mean, even if I had a car, it’s not very likely that I would hop over to Lebanon to for a quick meal. Google just told me that it’s about 30 miles. Well, if I lived in LA, then maybe I would have considered it, but in Tennessee the chances of me trying out a new restaurant in that area are slim to none. But coming back to coupons, I understand the tactic, but I’m always amazed that there is nothing interesting there. And it always aggravates me when I think of all the paper that gets wasted on such ads, of all the trees that had to die so I know that carpet cleaning of a three bedroom apartment in my area will cost me $79.

I may consider all of this stuff in my mailbox as waste of money and natural resources, but for the next 5 weeks, I will cherish every piece of mailing I get as I dissect its promotional value to me - the customer.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Owen Graduate School of Management, MBA, Business School, Marketing, Sales Promotions, Loyalty Programs, Mass Mailing, Coupons, Premium

Quintessence of fear

A question was asked today „how do you feel with only six months left at Owen?” Actually as of today it’s only 147 days till graduation. That’s roughly 4.9 months. Not six. I wish it was six, it would give me another month to find a job of my dreams and not worry that May 22 is the pay the loan day. That is scary. I knew since I started Owen that I would hate May 22 of 2008. Silly, isn’t it? There is a date out there that screams reality check.

But am I really afraid? I don’t think so. I am excited. I love Owen. No, I love being in school, but it’s not the goal of this little enterprise of mine to be in school forever. If it was, I would have applied to all of those nice PhD programs that I was considering. But I miss making money. I miss the joys of not dreading May 22, 2008.

In two days I go to Poland. Ahead of me are three weeks of hard work. Three weeks of research (that’s if I can get away from my family long enough to sit by a computer and actually do it) and, in a way, soul searching. I admit, until now it’s been a bit of testing the waters and seeing what’s out there. But practice is over, it’s time to get out onto the playing field in full force and play the game. Play to win.

So what is May 22? It’s just a reminder of my alternative reality. Nothing more, nothing less.

Song of the day:
David Bowie – This is not America

How deep is your corporate footprint?

It might sound absolutely insane when a company declares that it’s going green. The degree is irrelevant, but the intention is crucial. I was listening to speakers at the Improving Climate Performance and Your Bottom Line at the Same Time and the main thought that came across is that if there is a passion for sustainability results will just fall into lace. Sure it might take a while, but green companies are like a wild fire (Sorry to all those nice California folks who lost their homes in the recent fires). Ron L. Vlasic said that we need champions to own green initiatives in their offices. That way involvement is guaranteed. How to get that ownership is a different story, but with so many people talking green those days, there is bound to be someone who will gladly volunteer and steer the green ship. Businesses can leverage their position with their suppliers or vendors to expect, no demand them to turn to green (or at east greener) solutions. If you are doing laundry for three hotels and the manager of those hotels tells you: environmentally friendly detergents or we go to another service provider, what do you do? Can you really afford to loose that client?

Sometimes an idea introduced by one company gets copied by another as bigger and better. If it was a business idea they were borrowing, one might a bit touchy, but in this case it’s OK. I am talking about putting up a whole bunch of solar panels and then showing off: mine is bigger then yours… In this case Google was first, then Microsoft (just because they have to be bigger, don’t they?), flowed by Tesco. Hopefully solar panels will become trendier then they already are.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Net Impact, Owen, Vanderbilt, Business School, MBA, Sustainability, Environment

Innovation and money

There is a close link between the two. Money drives innovation and successful innovation makes money. Simple right? Not so much. Especially if you look at how the world is becoming a smaller place, innovation, especially in healthcare, is becoming more challenging and complicated. In pharma, on one side you have the time it takes to develop the drug, test it, etc. and on the other how and where do you recover the costs of putting forward your innovation.

In the panel The Development of Medical Innovation: Who Stands to Benefit? one of the issues discussed was drug trails in foreign countries (especially phase III) and upon completion the product not being available in this part of the world. Why? Because the idea is to push the drug into the US market and reap the benefits of full cost recovery. Often the regions whe re the drug is tested patients simply can’t afford the price tag. Unfortunately the panelists were not too concerned about it. Yes, they did raise the issue, but offered no solution.

On the home front, we discussed clinics run by nurse practitioners who provide a service to the insurance-poor in facilities located at drugstores or Wal-Mart locations. Is it the way to go to cure the ills of healthcare? The jury is still out on that one. But innovation is crucial, what we, as business people, must do is try to figure out how to ensure that money follows those “little” innovations so they keep on coming. As a wise man said: innovate or die.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Net Impact, Owen, Vanderbilt, Business School, MBA, Health Care

Thursday night social – on a slightly larger scale

Oh, the buzz of excitement! People coming in from (almost) all around the globe to exchange ideas and to see how they can change the world one company at a time. Last night the welcome reception was held in a huge tent. We had hundreds of people attending. In the beginning of the evening the most common question were “how do we get Net Impact at our school?” and “what are the benefits of having the conference at your school?” etc.  I think running around with the camera had something to do with people mistaking me for one of the organizers. Sorry folks, just taking pictures here. However, it was really cool to talk about the changes that the conference brought about. I can see a definite trend developing and let’s not forget, this is the Deep South and the only green things around here are the magnolia trees. OK, not really, but close enough.

As the night progressed, the conversation moved away from “what school are you from?” to more meaningful topics like the carbon emissions in production of petroleum based siding panels and following debate if it can be considered sustainable. Now, all I have to do is wait for the breakout sessions. With a great variety of topics and the fantastic panelists the choice is hard, but I can only go to one session at a time, so I will have to sacrifice nine others.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Net Impact, Owen, Vanderbilt, Business School, MBA

(Net) Impact in T-...

It’s coming. With leaps and bounds approaching and with every second getting closer. You can feel it everywhere: that certain air, the nervous look , the buzz of excitement. Everything seems to be waiting in anticipation for a climax that we all know is coming – Net Impact.

And yet with all that excitement today seems like the perfect day to stay in bed. It’s chilly and a bit foggy; everything is covered in a milky haze. Quite nice really if you are into this sort of thing. But regardless of my personal feelings on the matter today, like all of this week, is packed. I think we are all trying to finish everything up early knowing that over the conference we won’t have time (or energy) to do anything. I’ve volunteered to do press coverage (read: blog more then usual) which means that I will be around the conference starting at registration and ending sometime on Saturday night/Sunday morning. You can read all about Net Impact on Owenblogers.com, including live coverage from the conference.

See you all there in roughly 48 hours...

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt, MBA, Net Impact, Business School

Day 4 - Biometrics in the back yard

For the longest time I thought that infrastructure was just roads and buildings and such. Then I started realizing that communication was a crucial part of it. That led to information sharing, etc. Now I see it as a very complicated body influenced by countless factors where one had does not know what the other one is doing. It seems that in HC we have the basics down, the roads and buildings down, but the talking to each other part is still in the realm on the unknown.

We talked to General Harry Raduege who talked about infrastructure issues on the grand scale – state and federal and how everyone has a different system, how the systems are improved just to find out that they don’t work, and how data storage is an issue. Key word of this presentation was standardization. Actually, this seems to be a reoccurring theme in the course: standardization. Standardization of care, protocols, equipment.

We discussed using various forms of communication to bring doctors to soldiers out in the field where medical care in not readily available. Maybe then the Iraq Memorial will have fewer names then the Vietnam Memorial and we won’t  be standing there contemplating why we had to waste so many lives needlessly.

This morning’s USA Today has an article on the increase in mental care cases among veterans. Problem is that after talking various people this week it’s clear that every branch of the military has a different way of dealing with medical cases in that branch – there is no standard of care among them – heck, General Raguege said that different VA hospitals don’t talk to each other and it’s widely practiced for medical service seekers to visit several hospitals to compare what each one offers for the same condition. We are hoping for a nation wide revolution, but we can’t even manage something that we have direct control over. Why? Too many egos in the way, and no one want’s to step on someone else’s toe.

The second speaker of the day was Harry Greenspun from Northrop Grumman talking about the ethical issues involved in implementation of technology, namely electronic health records: how much exactly do you want your doctor to know? Is that weird rash you had after a trip to Vegas relevant to the sore throat you have now? Are you sure?

Quite a bit of his presentation was about usage of technology and possibilities that it brings. We talked of airport security using biometrics and retina scans to skip security lines. There is one issue we did not mention – how much do you want your government to know about you…

The last two speakers were members of the Deloitte’s Center for Health Solutions, Asif Dhar, MD, and Howard Underwood, MD, MBA, MAAA… Both of them added to food for thought. Doctor Underwood talked about the exact science of underwriting insurance. Doctor Dhar discussed the possible usages of electronic health record data. Among them were drug efficacy, efficiency and safety, and even considering using patient data as post market FDA monitoring.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Owen Graduate School of Management, Business School, Vanderbilt, Electronic Health Records, Biometrics, Vietnam Memorial, FDA

Day 3 - Presidential candidate

Maybe it’s not the nicest thing to say, but, in a way, every candidate that pulls out of the election is a looser. However, sometimes those that lose have a tremendous influence on those that stay in the race. In this case Tommy Thompson left his mark by opening the Pandora’s Box of healthcare reform. Other Republican candidates are now gently testing the waters while the Democrats seem to have just jumped in head first. It’s interesting to see how different fractions approach elections and issues that they think will play a crucial role in getting elected.

His speech and ideas on healthcare were very interesting as he described the “perfect storm” that is coming and what we ought to expect over the next few years. However his spiel on foreign policy was time wasted for my group. We are not here to alleviate the ills of the world and figure out how America can improve its image in the eyes of the world. We are here to learn how HC policy is set, how HC government agencies don’t talk to each other and how much influence lobbyists really have.

The perfect storm is really simple really. There are four forces converging and quite a bit of it is our doing.

1) There is a shortage of people coming into the field. Anything from nurses and internists to professors that would teach them. We are not allowing foreign doctors to practice because their education is not good enough for us, yet I am pretty sure that they could save a life as easily as an American trained physician. Oh yes, and as the population is getting older, those lovable baby boomers, we will need more of HC services to accommodate them.

2) HC costs will soon double (prediction is 2015) and we will reach $5 trillion mark. That’s 21% of projected GDP. Talk about big spenders… BTW, European countries are hovering between 9% and 12%.

3) The decline in employer sponsored insure will continue and some predict that businesses won’t be able to compete – look at Ford and GM and their pension/HC obligations. Then again American government is yet to acknowledge pension liabilities that it has. It’s nice to use cash accounting isn’t it? And why exactly does GAPP say that companies must use accrual?

4) Last but not least, Medicare will go broke in 2013 and will be completely bankrupt by 2019. We should have thought about it before passing Medicare part D that is almost completely funded through taxes.

In the evening we met with Marc McClellan who talked million miles per hour on FDA and their shoestring budget of $1.9 billion. He mentioned thou the policy making process of bio-generics and associated challenges. We also briefly talked about fees paid to FDA for drug approval and registration. Unfortunately due to time limitations we only covered drugs and in closing remarks we heard about other issues like pet food and imported food safety.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Owen Graduate School of Management, Business School, Vanderbilt, Healthcare, Medicare, Politics, Democrats, Republicans, Elections 2008

Day 2 - You met whom?

No one really. We did attend the Tennessee Tuesday, a meeting with Lamar Alexander and Bobby Corker, but this was more a photo opportunity then an actual meeting. They were there to look good to their constituents. This is a spectacular example of how Washington operates. We did meet with one of their aids though, a lady that deals with healthcare issues for Senator Alexander. What was interesting is that she didn’t seem to care about changing US healthcare for the better, it was more about which bill it’s strategic to pass or just get on the agenda. Someone said that it’s about nudging the change in the right direction. But how fast can you nudge before it breaks? It’s like chasing a race car with a bicycle, but it’s not a distance race, it’s a timing thing. We are tying not to make it blow up in our face and it sure seems that it will. Soon.

I am more disillusioned about the state of the affairs. I mean people claim that lobbyists run the country and from the horse’s mouth we heard how happy they are they can influence people on the Hill to vote for their causes. Now that is scary.

But more to the point. After that meeting we went back to Deloitte’s offices and spent some time talking to Martha Priddy Patterson, Principal at the Deloitte's Human Capital Practice, and a layer, about politics and policies. We had yet another view,  completely different form the Senator’s aide, on the same subject. We were in for a treat, because last night we had a reception with a lobbing arm of a large HC service company and they were talking about their perspective on change in policy, influencing their change and how they see it all.

After spending the day listening to three opposing views on the same subject, I am amazed that anything gets done in the government. But I am not surprised when people say that change in HC won’t come. It will, just not fast enough.

Technorati tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, Owenbloggers.com, MBA, Washington DC, Politics, Business School, Vanderbilt

Day 0 - Price is not the issue here

We arrived in DC just to find out that the hotel reservation had us coming in the next day. Luckily there were rooms available, however yours truly needs to change rooms later on today. Yes, I’m SO excited… We are staying at the Sofitel in Lafayette Square. I wouldn’t mind so much if this wasn’t such an overpriced piece of real estate. First of all there is no wireless here, I mean there is but for additional 10$ a day. This is less then 3% of the room price, so come on! Include it in the price and let no one be the wiser! Have you ever stayed at Hampton Inn? Middle of no where in Arkansas and there was free wireless and a WSJ waiting outside the door. Here, not so much. Again, this is such tiny fraction of the price that no one would notice if you hiked it a bit. I would say it’s the French, but I know too many French hoteliers to insult French owned hotels lightly. Then again, all of my friends worked for Sheraton and  such.

Yesterday we had a chance to explore DC a bit. It was a gorgeous day and we walked around the area. The South Lawn was open to visitors so we got to see the White House gardens. In the evening we walked a bit more, discovered some local night life, found the Deloitte building and had a drink or two. Over all, it was a very enjoyable day.

Technorati tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, Business School, Vanderbilt, MBA, hotels, travel

Short course, long week

This year Owen introduced an extra set of courses during a week long break between mods one and two. In the beginning I was opposed to it, I would have much rather spent that extra week with my family in Poland then here. But that was in the beginning. Now that the short course is almost upon me, I am quite excited about it. I’m going to be spending the next week in Washington DC talking to the big wigs in healthcare industry. Everything is organized with the help of Deloitte’s Center for Health Solutions, especially Paul Keckley (yes, the one that got bashed by Michael Moore). Guest speakers will include Tommy Thompson, Mark McClellan, William Winkenwerder, and General Harry Raduege – just to name a few.

So what’s the purpose of the whole thing? To better understand the interconnections in HC industry focusing on policy, regulations and governmental reform and their effects on state and federal level. If, as some presidential candidates claim, Medicare assumes responsibility for the uninsured what will happen to the system as a whole. Will it go bankrupt? Will our taxes increase to pay for those additional services? What will happen to the wait times for services and procedures? Will the system be overburdened because people won’t behave optimally and abuse it (i.e. visiting a doctor with every cold)? And I hope someone will mention what are the more optimal solutions for this situation. And no, purely socialized medicine is not the answer.

Aside of ton of reading, we will be looking at the political platforms of presidential candidates as they relate to HC. I’ve started looking, but so much of it is gibberish and political “feel good” that it’s hard to sieve through. Take a look at Ron Paul’s spiel, even though many of the statements are correct economically, there is plenty of “all profits go to pharmaceutical companies and HMO’s” inserts. If that is not playing the public, I don’t know what is.

As for healthcare issues that he is willing to put in writing, it seems that the only thing he stands for is curbing the power of the FDA and against vaccinations. Yes, vaccinations are evil, because they are treating kids like puppies, oh wait, vaccinations save puppies from fatal diseases. Any possibilities they could do the same to kids?

Technorati tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, Business School, Vanderbilt, Politics, Healthcare

I'd like some coffee in my milk, please

Habit - an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary; a dominant or regular disposition or tendency; prevailing character or quality; mental character or disposition

Habits. We pick them up as we go through life. Some are good and some are not so good. People say that it’s the environment we live it, the education, the upbringing, and they are probably right. But it’s not where we pick them up or even why, the important thing is how they affect us. For example: coffee. I like mine white with a bit of sugar to mellow down the taste. I drink it first think in the morning, one cup very strong, but very white. Maybe I should rephrase this as I drink a cup of milk with a shot of espresso in it. I have done so for so many years I can’t even remember when it all started. Why is this important? Well, it isn’t. Not in the grand scale of things. However it illustrates my habit: same action every morning preformed automatically.

Same thing applies to job search. As MBAs we all look for jobs and although everyone uses a different approach we all have the same goal in mind – to be a part of the 90% + that will have a job at graduation. (BTW, we have a higher percentile then UCLA’s Anderson ranked 12 by Business Week.) However, how we do it is a matter of habit in the broader meaning. The jobs that we will apply for, and the offers we will accept, will also be based on our habits. But I do think that at that point they will be called “cultural fit.” We seek things that we can relate to and ones that won’t require us to change too much in ourselves. It’s not that we can’t adapt to new environments, we are just conditioned to behave a certain way.

Does all of this mean that we are old dogs that can’t learn new tricks? Not really, we just seek a bit of comfort, a bit of control in our unpredictable lives. Habits add stability, and when the train of our lives is going million miles per hour that little bit of stability equals to sanity. And that is priceless. So don’t look at me funny when I say: I’d like some coffee in my milk, please.

Song of the day:
Sto Lat (this video is rated M for "mature" content - watch at your own risk... :)

Technorati tags: Business School, Owen Graduate School of Management, Owenbloggers.com, MBA, Jobs, Rankings

Here comes the rain again

It’s raining. No, it’s pouring cars and dogs. Actually in Poland we would say that it’s throwing frogs. But the phrase is irrelevant, the intensity is. I’ve been waiting for this rain like salvation, in a way. I thing I have bloged enough about the weather over the summer – had to write about something when I couldn’t write about my internship – but it was all about heat and humidity, not about rain. Sure it rained in between now and then, but that was just a drizzle.

More important should be the reason why I was waiting so impatiently. You might think that when you have high humidity you don’t have a drought. Apparently one does not exclude the other. So yes, rain is good.

On a side note, British Air announced earlier today that they will split the replacement of their aging 747’s between Boeing 787 Dreamliner (24 planes) and Airbus A380 (12 planes). I just finished a case last week contemplating the feasibility of A380 R&D and trying to value the NPV of the project without knowing demand. One thing I can say is that product conversion rates sure make a difference. I’m still not convinced and question whether I want to get into a double decker and fly long haul.

Song of the Day:
Eurythmics - Here Comes the Rain Again

Technorati tags: Owen Graduate School of Management, Owenbloggers.com, Business School, Boeing, Airbus, Eurythmics, Weather, Vanderbilt

Getting greener?

Political campaigns have an amazing reaction on media – suddenly talking about issues that normally get buried deep in the oblivion of irrelevant even unwanted information. When media raises a topic, interest groups become heard and suddenly the politicians react by incorporating those issues into their campaigns. On one hand, this interdependence fuels election machine and on the other, it educates the public. WSJ has had a “green” article just about every issue over the past several weeks. Everything from Wal-Mart branding it’s green strategy to green hotels and the right to line dry clothes.

Green sips into all publications lately, Business Week had an article about a Formula One designer changing gears and designing energy efficient cars. However in all this green talk few people are mentioning the green on a large scale. Who really cares about emissions and pollution, right? All of the individual efforts won’t amount to much if there is no general, and by that I mean government, interest in the issue. As long as lobbyist sweet talk politicians into opposing legislation that will help clean up our rivers, lakes, air and soil, we will not get any greener. They might, but that would be a completely different shade of green...

I don't think that event closing off land to development will change much.  It's a step, but a tiny one and there are miles more to go.

Technorati tags: Owenbloggers.com, Environment, Green Movement, politics, democrats

Do you trust the rankings?

First time this week I woke up without an am deadline. There has been so much going on over the past few days, but I was too spent to write about it. For starters, Microsoft suffered a defeat in the European court implying a change for many international giants doing business in Europe, especially if they are industry leaders. The WSJ article said “In Europe, the case was followed with the attention normally paid to the travails of royals or the fate of national soccer teams.” I this does not convince anyone how crucial this case is, I don’t think anything will.

An event closer to home was also published on Monday: WSJ ranking of business schools. Vanderbilt might not be one of the ten top MBA schools in the nation, and WSJ places it at 15 in the regional rankings (up from 21 last year), but we are one of 50 MBA eligible programs in the world granted full points under UK’s Highly Skilled Migrant Programme. Certain schools might be higher in newspaper ranking, but in the end, it’s the job market that dictates who comes out on top.

Talking of rankings and WSJ, I hope that the only reason the  MBA Ranking section had only men on its cover is a honest mistake and not an exhibit of prejudice and/or discrimination. Women are a minority in B-school and regardless of the efforts that schools put into recruitment it will be a long while before there a percentile split reflecting the actual gender split in the population.

Technorati tags: owenbloggers.com, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt, MBA, Business School, Rankings, Microsoft, WSJ