6. Healthcare under stress

with V. Michael Mavaddat¹

The economic strength and vigor of the healthcare ecosystem will greatly affect the pace of innovation in medicine. In this chapter, we explore the promises and challenges of bioscience technologies in the broader context of the healthcare ecosystem. Our discussion is very selective, given the broad scope of healthcare globally. The aim is to examine major stress points in healthcare today and then identify criteria that will determine which biomedical innovations might find their way to the market, using specific case examples.

Members of the healthcare ecosystem focus on financing and delivering healthcare services, innovating new technologies and tools, and regulating different aspects of the value chain. Figure 6.1 depicts the major value-creation activities from beginning to end in healthcare delivery and offers a broad strategic overview of the complex relationships among diverse players. In the United States, different organizations compete and collaborate to meet the nation’s demand for healthcare products and services. Most are operating with limited resources amid growing public concerns about the rising cost and uneven quality of healthcare.²