Clinical Associate Professor of Management
While it may seem daunting to fix all the problems currently facing the healthcare industry, business strategy calls for looking at the wider picture before zooming in to what needs to be done. That’s at the core of the Developing Strategy course Luiz Ricardo Kabbach is teaching in the Physician MBA Program.
“Even when you are solving one specific problem, you have to think broadly in the beginning and then drill down into the details. Having the big picture in mind helps you think strategically about where you want to be in the future,” Kabbach said. “Strategy is more important than ever for physicians to use in solving modern healthcare problems.”
An industrial engineer by training, Kabbach earned an MBA in finance and spent a decade in hands-on consultancy work before earning a PhD in economics. Since 2012, he’s been teaching strategy and corporate governance at universities around the world, including in Chile, Brazil, Spain, Australia, and the United States. Kabbach’s research focuses on the corporate governance mechanisms—their functions, and how they influence the strategic outcomes of businesses.
Having spent his pre-academic career helping companies solve problems through strategic implementation, Kabbach applies the same frameworks for the myriad of challenges facing the healthcare industry.
“I use a hands-on approach to teach physicians strategy based on the problems they see on a daily basis as a healthcare manager,” Kabbach sad. “There are several challenges facing healthcare industry right now—operations efficiencies, rising costs, reduced government funding. Physicians must be strategic in solving these challenges in a structured way.”
Kabbach’s course walks physicians through the fundamentals of strategy and effective approaches to problem solving. Kabbach presents the economic framework in which healthcare problems exist, and then works with students to break down their challenges strategically.
Oftentimes, physicians bring specific challenges from their healthcare industry into the classroom. Together, physician teams examine the issue methodically and create solutions together. In the past, this has included how to use artificial intelligence to improve patient services, how to improve physician and nursing scheduling, how to reduce immunization rate disparities across racial groups, and how to better motivate healthcare staff.
“We start with the frameworks in a case study so physicians can learn how to work with those tools,” Kabbach said. “Then we jump to their current and real problems. By the end of the quarter, they present the solutions to a panel—a board of directors—to sell their solutions.”
This hands-on approach to healthcare problem solving helps physicians learn through experience while also creating change that they can immediately apply at their own organizations. Kabbach says physicians are motivated and engaged learners, eager to understand concepts deeply and adapt them into their daily work. This includes getting buy-in from others, which is another element of strategic problem solving.
“Physicians understand that they need a team in order to be successful,” he said. “This is an important element of my class: As we think in a broad terms and then later drill down to the one particular issue, the solution will involve several stakeholders to help solve that problem.”