Publications

    Madore A, Rosenberg J, Weintraub R. Project ECHO: Expanding the Capacity of Primary Care Providers to Address Complex Conditions. Harvard Business Publishing. 2017.Abstract

    This case takes place in the United States (US) and traces the inception and growth of Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (Project ECHO)—a web-based "guided practice" model for primary care providers—from 2003 to 2016. After providing background on the US health system, including medical education, health care financing, and the supply and distribution of primary care and specialist providers, the case explores what motivated Project ECHO founder and liver specialist Sanjeev Arora, MD to train primary care providers in rural New Mexico in hepatitis C treatment and management. It describes early replication of the ECHO model in the US and across medical conditions and what the Project ECHO model entailed—including leveraging technology to expand access to specialty resources, best practices, case-based learning, and outcome monitoring, as well as good will among participants. A professional communications campaign, ongoing research, and persistence supported Project ECHO’s growth. The case displays three dimensions of Project ECHO’s early work: creating a new mode to redistribute the expertise of specialists to primary care practitioners, scaling this new care delivery model and measuring its impact, and identifying sustainable funding sources. The case concludes with the US Congress passing the ECHO Act to promote research on the model and Arora contemplating what else he might need to continue to scale to reach his goal of touching 1 billion lives.

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing. 

    TeleECHO Clinic - hub and spoke
    TeleECHO Clinic. Source: Case writers.

    ECHO Institute
    ECHO Institute. Source: Case writers.

    Learning Objectives: To understand what is needed to design a service model; the potential for redistribution of expertise among practitioners to enhance value; the role of operational effectiveness in enabling scale up; and the importance of measuring impact for stakeholders.

    Keywords: Public health, health care delivery, scale-up, resource-limited settings, human resource, information technology, primary care, information management, data collection, mentorship

    Rosenberg J, Cole C, May M, Weintraub R. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision in Nyanza Province, Kenya (Condensed Version). The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery. 2015.Abstract

    This case traces the development of the voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) campaign in Nyanza Province, Kenya as it transformed from the subject of a randomized clinical trial into national policy. After providing some background on the cultural, political, and scientific context surrounding male circumcision, the case traces the PEPFAR-funded implementers' advances in delivering male circumcision in Nyanza. It examines the various delivery models used in Nyanza and the evolution of the relationship between implementers as well as on the development of the national strategic plan for VMMC released in 2009. The case ends with the implementers having come together successfully for two rapid, aggressive, 30-day implementation campaigns and the head of Kenya's National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Programme wrestling with how to make such campaigns sustainable and what lessons from the campaign to pass on to the national program. This is a condensed version of the case Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision in Nyanza Province, Kenya.

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing.

    Mobile Service Delivery Model
    (A) Group counseling on male circumcision; (B) mobile circumcision counseling site; and (C) circumcision being conducted in tented delivery site. Source: Nyanza Reproductive Health Society.

    Learning Objectives: To understand how a randomized controlled trial may be translated into a large-scale public health program; how a surgical campaign was designed and implemented for rapid impact; the role of national and international collaboration in large-scale health delivery; and the ethical tradeoffs that arise in large-scale public health programs.

    Supporting Content: This is a condensed version of the case Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision in Nyanza Province, Kenya.

    Keywords: Project management, AIDS, policy, supply and demand, partnerships, strategy, innovation

    Rosenberg J, Cole C, May M, Weintraub R. Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision in Nyanza Province, Kenya. Harvard Business Publishing. 2012.Abstract

    This case traces the development of the voluntary medical male circumcision (VMMC) campaign in Nyanza Province, Kenya as it transformed from the subject of a randomized clinical trial into national policy. After providing some background on the cultural, political, and scientific context surrounding male circumcision, the case traces the PEPFAR-funded implementers' advances in delivering male circumcision in Nyanza. It examines the various delivery models used in Nyanza and the evolution of the relationship between implementers as well as on the development of the national strategic plan for VMMC released in 2009. The case ends with the implementers having come together successfully for two rapid, aggressive, 30-day implementation campaigns and the head of Kenya's National AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections Control Programme wrestling with how to make such campaigns sustainable and what lessons from the campaign to pass on to the national program.

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing.

    Mobile Service Delivery Model
    (A) Group counseling on male circumcision; (B) mobile circumcision counseling site; and (C) circumcision being conducted in tented delivery site. Source: Nyanza Reproductive Health Society.

    Learning Objectives: To understand how a randomized controlled trial may be translated into a large-scale public health program; how a surgical campaign was designed and implemented for rapid impact; the role of national and international collaboration in large-scale health delivery; and the ethical tradeoffs that arise in large-scale public health programs.

    Supporting Content: There is a shorter version of this case titled Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision in Nyanza Province, Kenya (Condensed Version).

    Keywords: Project management, AIDS, policy, supply and demand, partnerships, strategy, innovation

    Arnquist S, Weintraub R. loveLife: Preventing HIV Among South African Youth. Harvard Business Publishing. 2011.Abstract

    This case describes the strategy of the nongovernmental organization (NGO), loveLife, to prevent HIV among South African youth in the face of the world’s largest HIV epidemic, youth culture in post-apartheid South African, and a national government hostile to HIV/AIDS programs. The case traces loveLife from its inception and rapid scale up in 1999 to 2005, when loveLife lost one-third of its operating budget after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) chose not to renew its second phase of funding. This case documents loveLife’s strategy in scaling up and sustaining delivery of HIV prevention services at scale. A short, optional case coda describes loveLife’s restructuring and positioning after the Global Fund crisis up to 2009.

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing.

    Examples of loveLife media. Source: loveLife.
    Examples of loveLife media. Source: loveLife. (Exhibit 10 from "loveLife: Preventing HIV Among South African Youth" case.)

    Learning Objectives: To learn the application of strategic thinking in HIV prevention using Michael Porter’s “Five Tests of a Good Strategy” and to understand the organizational changes required in transitioning from scaling up to operating at scale.

    Supporting Content: This case has a supplementary summary of history and next steps titled loveLife: preventing HIV among South African youth (Part B). There is also an additional sequel, loveLife: Transitions After 2005.

    Keywords: Demand generation, scale up, sustaining delivery at scale, HIV prevention among youth, strategy, stigma

    Arnquist S, Weintraub R. loveLife: Preventing HIV among South African youth (Part B). Harvard Business Publishing. 2011.Abstract

    This case describes the strategy of the nongovernmental organization (NGO), loveLife, to prevent HIV among South African youth in the face of the world’s largest HIV epidemic, youth culture in post-apartheid South African, and a national government hostile to HIV/AIDS programs. The case traces loveLife from its inception and rapid scale up in 1999 to 2005, when loveLife lost one-third of its operating budget after the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) chose not to renew its second phase of funding. This case documents loveLife’s strategy in scaling up and sustaining delivery of HIV prevention services at scale. A short, optional case coda describes loveLife’s restructuring and positioning after the Global Fund crisis up to 2009. 

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing.

    HIV Incidence among 15-20-year-old South Africans, 2002-2008. Source: Rehle T, Hallett T, Shisana O, et al. A Decline in New HIV Infections in South Africa: Estimating HIV Incidence from Three National HIV Surveys in 2002, 2005 and 2008. PloS one. 2010;5(6):e11094. (Exhibit 2 from "loveLife: preventing HIV among South African youth" case.)
     

     

    Learning Objectives: To learn the application of strategic thinking in HIV prevention using Michael Porter’s “Five Tests of a Good Strategy” and to understand the organizational changes required in transitioning from scaling up to operating at scale.

    Supporting Content: This case is the supplement to loveLife: Preventing HIV Among South African Youth.

    Keywords: Demand generation, scale up, sustaining delivery at scale, HIV prevention among youth, strategy, stigma

    Rosenberg J, Rhatigan J, Kim JY. The Peruvian National Tuberculosis Control Program. Harvard Business Publishing. 2011.Abstract

    This case examines effective public health management strategies by examining the turnaround of National Tuberculosis (TB) Control Program (NTP) in Peru during the 1990s under Director Dr. Pedro Suarez. The case presents background information on the NTP before 1990 and situates its underperformance within the political and economic context of Peru at this time. It describes how Suarez transformed the NTP from an essentially bankrupt program in August 1990 to a model program, using effective management techniques. It concludes with the program struggling to improve outcomes among a group of patients failing its standardized protocols.

    Teaching Note available through Harvard Business Publishing.

    Health Center in Peru
    Health center in Peru; Credit: Julie Rosenberg Talbot

    Learning Objectives: To understand the operations of a national tuberculosis control program and to learn how effective management techniques can be employed in public health programs to improve performance with an emphasis on basic principles of quality improvement.

    Keywords: Program management, leadership, vertical programming, public health, tuberculosis control