This book, n=1 is a collaboration of physician health system CEO, venture capital entrepreneur and leading global business advisor and best-selling business author. These differing perspectives provide insights into the forces transforming the global society, business and professions with a focus on US healthcare and its transformation. Healthcare leaders must develop the incisive questions that challenge the orthodoxies hindering organizational transformation. Our experience indicates leaders of successful non-healthcare organizations develop cultures of inquiry that guide their organizations through dramatic market change.
Unique individuals are the driving force in the transformation of healthcare. Digitization has democratized information, which feeds the desire of people to act, behave and be treated as unique individuals. Scientific innovation is revealing the importance of our biologic individuality. The financial risk of healthcare is increasingly passed to individuals and providers, fueling changes in financial incentives. An individual with information knows their options, and wants to choose the option most suited to his or her unique healthcare needs and financial means. This profound and fundamental change in the individual's expectations and behavior is accelerating healthcare transformation.
The title of this book, n = 1, is a symbol of the uniqueness of individuals. The n=1 will transform healthcare.
About the Author: John Koster, M.D.: John Koster, M.D., writer, educator and board member, served as the CEO of Providence Health & Services. He retired in December 2013. Providence is one of the largest health systems in the US, with over 67,000 employees, 33 hospitals and operating in five western states.
Dr. Koster joined Providence as chief medical officer in April 1997 and held numerous roles in system operations until he became president and chief executive officer in 2003. He was selected as one of Modern Healthcare magazine's 50 Most Influential Physician Executives in 2012. Prior to joining Providence, Dr. Koster served as senior vice president of VHA, Inc. in Irving, Texas, a nationwide network of health care organizations and physicians. He has also held senior leadership positions at Presbyterian Healthcare Services in Albuquerque, New Mexico and at Rocky Mountain Healthcare Company in Denver, a regional BCBS plan.
His clinical practice was in emergency medicine and internal medicine. He is board certified in internal medicine.
Co-founder, Chairman and CEO, The Health Management Academy,
Gerald E. Bisbee, Jr., Ph.D., MBA, is an experienced healthcare policy and financing executive. His leadership positions have spanned Wall Street, academia, health policy and entrepreneurial ventures in the information technology, health services and medical device industries.
He is co-founder, Chairman and CEO of The Health Management Academy which provides research, best practices and peer education exclusively for executives of the largest health systems and prominent health-related companies. He has been an HMO, practice management, information services and medical device CEO, as well as Director of the Healthcare Services Group of Kidder Peabody & Co.
He has been a faculty member in graduate management programs at Yale and Northwestern Universities and President of the Health Research and Educational Trust, the research and educational affiliate of the American Hospital Association. He is published in the healthcare finance and health services areas. His MBA is in healthcare and finance from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. is from Yale University in chronic disease epidemiology, with an emphasis on survey research.
Ram Charan: Ram is the coauthor of the bestsellers Execution and Confronting Reality and the author of What the CEO Wants You to Know and ten other books. A noted expert on business strategy, execution, building high performance organizations, 21st century leadership, corporate boards and succession, he has worked with leaders of some of the world's most successful companies, including GE, Bank of America, Verizon, Coca-Cola,3M, Merck, Aditya Birla Group and Tata Group.
