James B. Rebitzer
James B. Rebitzer is the Peter and Deborah Wexler Professor at Boston University's Questrom School of Business where he was founding chair of the department of Markets, Public Policy, and Law. Formerly, he was the Mannix Professor of Healthcare Finance and Economics and Chair of the Economics Department at the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western University. He is a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). James has received The Health Care Research Award from the National Institute of Health Care Management and the Kenneth J. Arrow Award from the International Health Economics Association.
Robert S. Rebitzer
Robert S. Rebitzer advises health systems, academic medical centers, health insurers, government, and philanthropies on ways to improve the quality and lower the cost of healthcare. He is a senior advisor at Manatt Health and a Distinguished Career Institute Fellow at Stanford University. Formerly, he was a partner in the healthcare strategy practice of Accenture and a Vice President of UnitedHealth Group. He has also served as an advisor to the California Healthcare Foundation and to Stanford University's Clinical Excellence Research Center. He is currently chairman of the board of El Camino Health System.
Working together.
This book began with stories we told each other as a healthcare economist and as a healthcare strategy consultant.
Jim, the economist, talked about models and data. Bob, the consultant, talked about what clients were doing.
Together we observed an abundantly innovative healthcare system unable to discover ways to deliver increased value at lower cost. Why?
“I think there’s a book here”, Jim said.
We wrote the book twice. The first time, Jim wrote the first draft and Bob rewrote. The second time, Bob wrote first.
Now we can’t remember who said what, just like the rest of our lives. But we do remember the experience of a joyful and deeply satisfying collaboration.
