Contributor: Katherine Clark, MD'15, WG’15

This fall flew by as our alumni board Conference Committee prepared for our annual Wharton HCM Alumni Association Conference. The theme was “Healthcare, Disrupted: Navigating the Revolutionary Forces Reshaping Health Care,” and the event was again held at the Inn at Penn in late October. Jumping right into 2024, our second pinnacle event of the year, the annual JP Morgan reception at 620 Jones was yet again another overwhelming success! In the coming months, we are looking forward to hosting more events at upcoming industry conferences and cities across the country. Read more.

This eclectic standing column features insightful musings, words of wisdom, life lessons, and stepping-stones to business success. This month's philosopher is Pete Hanna, WEMBA 44, WG'20, Chief Medical officer of Inova Mount Vernon Hospital. Read more.

Contributor: Matt Mousley

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) remains a hot topic in legal and healthcare circles, but the conversation has shifted from the initial wonder of “What can it do?” to the present cautiousness of “What should it not do?”  Read more.

Contributor: Eva Ting

In his Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Denial of Death, cultural anthropologist Ernest Becker sums up a main tension we sense when we confront the reality of our mortality: “Man is literally split in two: he has an awareness of his own splendid uniqueness in that he sticks out of nature with a towering majesty, and yet he goes back into the ground a few feet in order to blindly and dumbly rot and disappear forever.” Acknowledging our finitude and fleeting time on earth can actually be good for us and prompt us to consider what truly matters and to then align our lives accordingly. Read more.

Contributor: Joe Mazzenga

If your workforce lacks harmony, you are not alone. Many successful healthcare organizations face some level of dysfunction, and this causes leaders to question their role in these challenges. The truth is that stress can often trigger anxiety-driven behaviors that are less productive, leading to trust deficits, employee dissatisfaction, and talent attrition. This pattern is called “the Drama Triangle” — and it stifles effective leadership and team development. Read more.

Contributor: Vidya Murthy, WEMBA’42 

The last quarter of 2023 saw the confluence of many policy initiatives reaching implementation. In particular, the mandatory use of the Electronic Submission Template and Resource (eSTAR) for 510(k)s and deNovo submissions means automatic verification of cybersecurity diligence for all submissions. When combined with the final premarket cybersecurity guidance, medical device manufacturers must embed security considerations across their entire product development lifecycle. Read more.

Contributors: Paul Walters, MPP, Jennifer Tomasik, SM, FACHE, Jason Pradarelli, MD, MS

A few years ago, we were conducting a management and leadership training with a group of professionals when the topic of employee development came up. A robust discussion ensued. One individual in particular was resistant to investing “too much" in employees, lamenting the financial cost to do so. This individual asked, “What if I invest in my employees and they leave?” To which one of our consultants responded: “What if you don’t invest in your employees and they stay?” Read more. 

Contributors: Gil Kaminski, WG'16 and Erez Kaminski

Recently, the FDA released a 43-page draft guidance on the future of AI/ML in medical devices. The FDA is considering granting developers the permission to modify ML models following the initial approval of a device, provided there's an established plan for such alterations. How would that actually work, and how will device developers make sure their products are safe while being changed rapidly? Read more. 

Contributors: Wren Keber and Lisa Soroka

The pandemic influenced how both employers and physicians interact with each other, since their respective priorities may have significantly changed. We believe some specific factors associated with the pandemic explain this influence. Read more. 

Contributor: Linda Roszak Burton, ACC, BBC, BS and Betsy Chapin Taylor, FAHP

Harnessing the power of values and virtues through an approach Accordant calls Virtuous Practice can offer an accessible and effective healing salve for healthcare's open wounds by creating mutually rewarding physician-patient relationships and by fulfilling patient expectations of a "good" doctor. Read more. 

Contributor: John Winkelman, WG'80

About 10 years ago, the Alumni Association and the WHCMP office determined that establishing a Scholarship fund the Program Director could use to attract the best and the brightest students into the Program would be a good use of the Alumni Association network. The June Kinney Fellowship Scholarship (“The Kinney Scholarship”) was established in 2015 to provide additional financial assistance to an applicant to the WHCM Program who was already accepted for admission to Wharton and the WHCM Program. Read more.