Newsletters
A Health Care Tipping Point?, November, 2009
In his 2000 book “The Tipping Point; How Little Things Can Make A Big Difference," New York Times writer Malcolm Gladwell explored the world of epidemics. Not epidemics in the clinical sense of the word, but epidemics that are created with new products, messages, or ideas that spread just like viruses do. He was curious to see if he could identify any common factors that may have created a “tipping point” for a concept or idea; those times when the new idea simply “tips” or takes off. Gladwell looked at some obscure topics like how Hush Puppies suddenly became fashionable again, why Paul Revere was the rider we remember when there was actually another one on the same mission at the same time, and why Sesame Street and Blues Clues became fashionable for children (and parents) as an educational and social intervention for families. If updating his work, he might look at how the iPod created an “epidemic” in virtual communication, and how social networking has become a primary method of communication in our society. In many respects, we have little tipping points in our lives developing all around us. We just need to look.
The principles Gladwell discovered can be used by organizations to create their own tipping points (and is part of our Tipping Point Workshop for Health Care Organizations). The principles can be integrated into a basic business strategy and can sometimes provide an interesting self-evaluation to see if you are near a tipping point of your own.
The Tipping Point principles can also be applied to a broader industry. We were curious to see if a “tipping point” might be on the horizon in our health care reform discussions. We wondered if the stars were aligned and the factors were in place to create a tipping point that might ultimately result in a reformed delivery model with broad acceptance by stakeholders, a common context, and fair. You have to judge for yourself. But we don’t think so.
