by Niall O’Donnell One night in 1996 I witnessed the late Leslie Nielsen bring the house down at the Oxford Union with this quote, “There is no crime problem. There is a victim problem. If we could lock up all the victims, the crime problem would be solved.” Challenging his role as Sergeant Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun movie franchise, his quip possessed a flawless, if somewhat impractical, logic. Health care and the costs of health care have dominated politics in the U.S. over the last five years. The more I read and hear, the more the logic of…
by Lauray MacElhern The U.S. medical system, although referred to as “health care” is largely one of disease care, a status quo that threatens our country’s economic and societal well-being. An inside-out transformation of this system, that teaches and encourages prevention and wellness, not just disease management, is desperately needed. According to the latest World Health Organization data1, the United States ranks 46 out of 48 countries in terms of “health care efficiency” – a calculation derived from life expectancy and health care cost per capita. We spend 18 percent of GDP per capita on health care – the highest…
by Eric Norman I recently burned roasted yams. Luckily it was Thanksgiving, so nobody really cared because we needed to have yams. Plus they were still rather tasty. But it bothered me, and I tried to think of why. Perhaps because I added maple glaze and didn’t reduce the cooking time. Perhaps my oven is different than the oven used to develop the recipe. It is not uncommon for ovens to deviate by 50 degrees around their setting. Oven temperatures can also drift over time, slipping out of calibration. Accomplished chefs know this, but to the average home cook it…
by Vanessa Cabiling In a society highly dependent upon the Internet for gathering information, online consumer reviews have become the new word of mouth. Ratings on Amazon, TripAdvisor, Angie’s List, Rotten Tomatoes, and Yelp have helped consumers narrow down a barrage of choices. For local San Diego businesses, learning how to manage these online review sites has become as important as managing the business itself. A Harvard Business School study, conducted by Assistant Professor Michael Luca, found that for every star change in rating on Yelp, revenues of independent businesses are affected by 5 to 9 percent.1 Chef Peter Briones…
by Julia Lee Walking into Professor Uri Gneezy’s office, one immediately notices the floor-to-ceiling shelves with a vast array of books, ranging from the scholarly and serious to the accessible and entertaining. Atop a round table in the center of the room sits a container overflowing with colorful, multi-sided dice – quite appropriate for a firm believer in the value of randomized, controlled experiments to transform the way sectors ranging from health care to education conduct their business. An experimentalist and scientist at heart, Gneezy learned and applied game theory firsthand on the streets of Tel Aviv while growing up…
by Matt Archer When President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act into law on March 13, 2010, he cemented his legacy as the architect of a new U.S. health care system. The bill ignited political conservatives who claimed it was a step into socialism, and provided fuel to boil any liquid left in the tea party’s pots. When informed of the term “Obamacare” for his revolutionary health care bill used in a derogatory manner by conservatives, President Obama responded with his typical style. At a press conference in Atlanta, President Obama utilized a technique that Bruce Lee…
by Mike Murphy As we welcome in the new year, I am sure we would all agree that for various reasons we are living in interesting times, not the least of which is the Affordable Care Act and health care reform. A day does not go by where we do not hear significant negative and positive headlines about the possible impacts of the act and, in particular, its most significant components: The individual mandate and the insurance exchanges that offer coverage effective Jan. 1, 2014. What will the short- and long-term impacts be? Will more people be covered? Will health…
by Sara Jones Any newcomer to San Diego soon learns that it is a small-business and startup town. About 94 percent of the 97,000 businesses in San Diego are small businesses.1 On average, these small businesses have between three and 10 employees. They span industries as diverse as retail, finance, and manufacturing. As different as they are, all of them face a common threat that manifests swiftly and unexpectedly: a natural or manmade disaster. According to the Insurance Information Institute, 15 to 40 percent of businesses fail following a natural or manmade disaster.2 And the cost to the surrounding community…
by Elanor Williams Amazing technological advances have reduced the constraints that our physical bodies and minds place on our performance. Medications can increase people’s ability to concentrate, to stay awake or get a good night’s sleep, or even make full use of the oxygen in their blood. Implants can make the blind see or the deaf hear again. Advanced prosthetic limbs mean that amputees can dance, climb mountains, or run marathons. These products can take forms beyond medication and treatment, as well. Software and hardware advances like Photoshop or even cell phones can help people be and do better, as…
by Tyler Presnall For one weekend in November of 2012, Sony Electronics USA welcomed more than 40 MBA students to its San Diego headquarters for its annual Case Competition. Grouped in teams of four with strangers from other top MBA programs across the country, participants were given 24 hours to develop 15-minute business pitches in response to a realworld problem. Contestants signed non-disclosure agreements to assure the company that details of its strategic position would not be leaked. Students had received the case a week in advance but spent most of the initial hours of the competition getting to know…