Summary.
The U.S. health care system desperately needs reform to rein in costs, improve quality, and expand access. Federal policy changes are essential, of course; however, top-down solutions alone cannot fix a wasteful and misdirected system. The industry also needs transformation from the bottom up, by entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs—the kind of trailblazers we’ve been studying over the past several years. In our work, we’ve seen innovations championed by CEOs of start-ups who understand that needed reform is not going to come anytime soon from government regulators. We’ve also seen changes driven by doctors, nurses, administrators, employers, and even patients who are devising solutions to the problems they face every day in an ill-built system.