The economics of standardized patient education materials with veteran patients

With an increasing number of veterans seeking care, it becomes imperative that the resources within the system are used efficiently and effectively and in a manner that maintains access, safety, and quality of care. Veterans who are able to manage their own care may utilize provider services less frequently, thereby increasing access for others who require more care. The objective of this quality improvement study was to determine the effectiveness of providing a standardized self-management textbook of health information with the intent that it would decrease demand on primary care providers' time for minor health care issues. This initial quality improvement study clearly demonstrated the potential of the return on investment and the subsequent potential for increased access for veteran patients, appropriate use of limited resources, and improved patient outcomes. It also clearly demonstrated the value of interaction with the veterans to educate them about their care and the increased satisfaction individualized attention to their needs creates. That finding alone has a greater value than just economics.     

Organizational performance with a broader focus: The case for a stakeholder approach to leadership

In 2019, BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, Apple CEO Tim Cook, and the other 179 CEO members of the Business Roundtable argued that the purpose of a corporation must reflect not only the fiduciary interests of owners but also the varied interests of all stakeholders: employees, customers, partners, and broader society. This idea challenges a decades-old norm of shareholder primacy, so it is reasonable for organizational leaders to wonder whether doing so is truly in their firms’ best interests, and if so, how to implement this approach to leadership. To answer these questions, we draw on over 200 peer-reviewed articles covering leadership research to demonstrate how servant leadership, a stakeholder-focused approach to management, outperforms other leadership approaches across both shareholder and stakeholder criteria. We leverage case studies of organizational leaders from SAS, Zappos, Starbucks, and Jason’s Deli, financially successful organizations that exemplify how managers provide value and sustainability to stakeholders and shareholders through servant leadership. We also include practical steps managers can take to begin putting this form of leadership into practice.     

Benefits, consumerism and an "ownership society"

Compared to the generations preceding them, baby boomers assume more of both decision-making and financial responsibility for their health care and retirement. This article reviews the changing health and retirement plan landscape, and describes the plans, products and features available to the baby boom generation. It then describes how employers can become educators in order to help boomers best manage their increased responsibility for their health care and retirement.     

How does Internationalisation affect the productivity of R&D activities in large innovative firms? A conditional nonparametric investigation

Quality & Quantity - This work explores the relationship between multinational R&D and innovation productivity among top corporate knowledge and R&D producers by adopting a...     

Heterogeneity,leveling the playing field,and affirmative action in contests

The heterogeneous abilities of players in various competitive contexts often lead to undesirable outcomes such as low effort provision, a lack of diversity, and inequality. A range of policies is implemented to mitigate such issues by enforcing competitive balance, that is, by leveling the playing field. Some of those policies, known as affirmative action (AA) policies, are practiced in ethical response to historical discrimination against particular social groups, and are also aimed at increasing competition. This survey summarizes the rapidly growing literature on contest theory regarding AA and other policies that level the playing field. Using a general theoretical structure, we outline the theoretical, experimental, and empirical research findings on contest outcomes under a multitude of policy mechanisms, and in doing so, we touch upon some of the common debates in the AA literature.     

Social entrepreneurs: making sense of tensions through the application of alternative strategies of hybrid organizations

Through the use of qualitative analysis, this paper examines the diverse tensions that social entrepreneurs have to deal with in their daily business activity. By using paradox theory and the hybrid organization model as a framework for analysis, we have found three principle causes of tension among social entrepreneurs: social vs economic sustainability; work vs family life; and resistance to change vs innovation. The results show the way in which social entrepreneurs in hybrid organizations resolve these conflicting tensions, usually through a selective coupling strategy, which is eventually complemented with alternative approaches such as compromising or decoupling. Social entrepreneurs tend to focus on one aspect of the tension and deal with it individually, which makes it more manageable. Change and innovation are the triggers for using strategies other than selective coupling, such as compromising or decoupling. When the level of tension rises further, compromising is then used. Decoupling is the last option chosen by social entrepreneurs, and is used only in cases where resolution is not possible with the other two strategies mentioned.

     

Epistemic uncertainty in catastrophe models—A base level examination

In this paper, we evaluate sources of variation in the output from catastrophe models with emphasis on the epistemic uncertainty in modeled expected losses. Using building data from the 34 buildings that comprised the California Northridge campus at the time of the Northridge earthquake, we explore the sensitivity of estimated average annual losses obtained from a cat model to the quality of model input. Namely, we consider how changes in four key model assumptions—building locations, building height, construction type, and the event catalog—affect cat model loss estimates. We find that accurate information on some input variables is critical (e.g., all steel construction) and the interaction between input variables should not be discounted. Our results have important implications for insurer decisions that are informed by the output of catastrophe models—product pricing, portfolio diversification and underwriting decisions, negotiations and discussions with regulators and similar activities with capital market participants. The financial impact of improving data quality and targeting data related to key model inputs for that insurer when at scale is not trivial. As such, this paper provides an impetus for establishing and improving benchmarks for model inputs.     

An examination of anti-violence human resource management practices in the context of health care and aged care

Although accumulated research has demonstrated the negative impacts of workplace violence and called for effective solutions from a human resource management (HRM) perspective, a valid measure of anti-violence HRM practices is missing. In this paper, we develop a scale of anti-violence HRM practices that is critical for both theoretical advancement and managerial practices in health care and aged care contexts. Through an inductive approach in Study 1, we generated items for the scale to be used in health care and aged care contexts, which we then subjected to a content validity test in Study 2. Using the newly developed scale, we further demonstrated in Study 3 that anti-violence HRM practices that are implemented in aged care facilities reduce workers' experienced violence, improve workers' emotional wellbeing, and enhance workers' organisational and career commitment.     

Health insurers' use of quality improvement expenses to achieve a minimum medical loss ratio requirement

Health insurer medical loss ratios (MLRs) are the percentage of premium dollar spent on medical claims and healthcare quality improvement expenses (QIEs). QIEs include activities to improve patient health outcomes and safety, reduce medical errors, and prevent hospital readmissions. The Affordable Care Act mandates minimum MLRs in certain health insurance markets lest rebates be paid to policyholders. QIEs are reported in all markets regardless of whether that market is subject to minimum MLR requirements. Using health insurer statutory filings for a sample of group market insurers from 2010 to 2018, we employ a mixed regression discontinuity/regression kink approach to evaluate whether QIEs are used by insurers as a potential strategy for meeting the minimum MLR requirement. We show that health insurers' QIE increase in the loss ratio until meeting the minimum MLR requirement, have a significant discontinuous jump at the threshold, and decrease above the threshold after the introduction of the MLR mandate.