With the dizzying array of trends and disruptions re-shaping the industry, it is impossible for even the foremost experts to know with certainty how the US healthcare market will evolve along key parameters. You have the exciting opportunity to architect your own unique scenario for what Patient Safety in the world of US Healthcare looks like in 2040 by participating in Goizueta’s Healthcare Association Futuring competition. This one-of-a-kind event invites teams to develop compelling, plausible scenarios for US Healthcare in 2040 – and to compete for a prize pool of $2,500.
GHA 2040 Healthcare Futuring Competition
What does Patient Safety in U.S. Healthcare Look Like in 2040?
A futuring, or scenario development, exercise is an advanced strategy tool that practitioners use to focus a team’s vision on long-term, rather than short-term, outcomes. There is no “right answer” intended out of this exercise because the real future will unfurl in a dynamic, path-dependent way that entails genuine uncertainty. Instead, a futuring exercise is intended to broaden the thinking of participants about what could happen decades ahead. Participants often produce “extreme” scenarios that enrich the group’s collective thinking about what might happen – and detail the drivers of the scenario that would serve as leading indicators for leadership teams, researchers, and legislators to monitor.
The world of US Healthcare in 2023 faces a number of challenges, from escalating costs to technological developments to patient access issues and beyond. Many of us feel passionate about one or more of these issues and study or advocate specific policy choices. Often, though, we are so focused on the next 5 years that we fail to contemplate the fundamental forces that will thoroughly transform healthcare in the longer term. The Healthcare 2040 competition offers an opportunity for students to focus specifically on the long-term outcomes of these transformational forces and predict their cumulative effect.
This year, we have partnered with the Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative and their Patient Safety Technology Challenge. You and Your team will develop a "futuring solution" on one the following:
- Produce a vision of a radically safer healthcare system leaving all legacy systems behind - conceive anew who delivers what care, where, when, and how by incorporating modern technology, new professional roles, and new construction to achieve safe, optimal care. Consider the five categories of medical harm that contribute to the majority of morbidity and mortality:
- Medication errors,
- Procedural/Surgical safety problems,
- Patient care (falls, pressure injuries, blood clots),
- Infections, and
- Diagnostic safety issues (wrong, missed, delayed diagnosis)
How will those be addressed in your newly envisioned system? To better understand the issue at hand check out this webpage
In teams of 2-5 individuals, participants can attend an optional workshop on scenario development and create a set of materials to submit to a judging panel. The judging panel, comprised of leading thinkers and practitioners from the healthcare field, will select teams to formally present their healthcare 2040 future during a half-day event on April 7th. Two winning teams will be chosen from the finalist pool.
Frequently Asked Questions
A futuring, or scenario development, exercise is an advanced strategy tool that practitioners use to focus a team’s vision on long-term, rather than short-term, outcomes. There is no “right answer” intended out of this exercise, because the real future will unfurl in a dynamic, path-dependent way that entails genuine uncertainty. Instead, a futuring exercise is intended to broaden the thinking of participants about what could happen decades from now. Participants often produce “extreme” scenarios that enrich the group’s collective thinking about what might happen – and detail the drivers of the scenario that would serve as leading indicators to monitor for leadership teams, researchers, and legislators to monitor.
No. Often, participants who have a more distant and objective perspective can produce the most compelling scenarios. The optimal make-up of a team members will include team members with a diverse set of industry knowledge and capabilities.
No. Sets of industry “fact-packs” providing overview information are provided to all participants. Participants are certainly allowed to conduct any additional research they find helpful. However, the successful entries will extrapolate forward to provide the most compelling, coherent, and creative vision for how these existing industry characteristics will evolve over time.
Employers are accustomed to seeing business plan competitions and case competitions within university settings. A futuring competition is much, much less common and will therefore make you distinctive relative to students at other institutions. Even more important, a futuring exercise requires you to immerse yourself in existing facts and trends and develop a unique and well-defined perspective on what the future will look like. These twin attributes of factual command and definitive vision will make you an extremely interesting and knowledgeable interviewee – hence able to stand out in large interview pools within and across institutions.
No. While business and medical acumen can be helpful to a team, the competition is intentionally designed to accommodate participation from all levels of the university by providing a common fact base to all teams. The strongest teams will draw from a variety of different backgrounds and capabilities.
No. While there is a creative narrative component to the submission materials, the most important determinant of success will be the extent to which the team creates a plausible, compelling, and memorable vision for the future of US Healthcare in 2040.
- Renee Dye, Associate Professor in the Practice of Organization and Management, Goizueta Business School
- Rishab Padukone, MBA Student, VP of Case Competitions and Conferences for GHA
- Richard Xie, MBA Student, EVP and Treasurer of GHA
- Swetha Rajagopalan, MBA/MPH Student, President of Goizueta Healthcare Association