Harvard Business School Prof. Michael Porter writes in a NEJM Catalyst piece headlined “What 21st Century Health Care Should Learn From 20th Century Business”:

“{The} variability in patients will always persist, but what has disappeared is the ability of any individual physician to deliver excellent care on his/her own. In today’s sophisticated medicine, the patient needs a team. The ability to personalize care lies in the ability of experienced groups of clinicians working together in treating patients with similar conditions to understand how to deal with individual differences. An IPU {Integrated Practice Unit} team is far better equipped to deal with exceptional cases and deliver personalized care than the traditional model — just as SBUs {Strategic Business Units} were better able to respond to their customer needs for their product than traditional functional structures. Health care needs real teams and real IPUs that are dedicated to meeting the needs of particular groups of patients, with the same focus that SBUs allow in meeting the needs of their customers for their product.”

To read the piece, please hit this link.