The Crimson Group, Inc. (TCG) helps to improve organizational performance in
health care via customized
and standardized
management education programs, either of which may be followed by a consulting
component. TCG also engages in field
research and curriculum
development, and maintains
The Crimson Press Curriculum Center - a clearinghouse of curriculum
materials in the healthcare, nonprofit and accounting fields.
TCG has conducted customized management education programs for a range of
clients. Our programs are based on a
needs assessment that allows us to focus the curriculum on the key
issues the organization faces and the skills and competencies its physicians,
senior managers, and other leaders require to address them. Our programs are
grounded in an educational
philosophy that emphasizes collaboration, interactive learning and
continuous improvement.
TCG also conducts in-house standardized management education programs for its
clients. Each of these programs is three days in length and does not
require a needs assessment. These programs also are grounded in our
educational philosophy.
Occasionally, following a program, we work with a department or other
organizational unit to undertake a small project to demonstrate how the
concepts from the program can be applied in practice. Following completion of
the project, we conduct a one-day workshop to discuss the project's results,
and to assist the organization to develop an agenda to apply the project's
learning to a broader set of organizational units. This unique approach to
consulting puts responsibility for change in the hands of the organization's
managers and professionals, rather than having a team of consultants produce a
set of recommendations that may never be implemented.
We regularly undertake field research to improve our understanding of the
issues facing the healthcare system. Our research projects typically focus on
the development of conceptual models and tools that can assist physician
leaders and healthcare managers to view organizational problems through a new
set of lenses, and to implement creative and effective solutions. Our research
results are published in a variety of
academic and practitioner journals.
In the late 1990s, our work on integrated delivery systems resulted in two
published articles, each of which won an award as best article of the year from
the journal where it was published:
- Young, David W., and Diana Barrett, "Managing Clinical Integration in Integrated Delivery Systems: A Framework for Action" (Hospital and Health Services Administration. Summer 1997). This article received the 1998 Edgar C. Hayhow Award from the American College of Healthcare Executives.
- Young, David W., "Two-Part Transfer Pricing Improves IDS Financial Control" (Healthcare Financial Management, August 1998). This article received the 1999 Helen Yerger/L. Vann Seawell award from the Healthcare Financial Management Association for best article of 1998.
Our resulting book, Young, David W. and Sheila McCarthy, Managing Integrated
Delivery Systems: A Framework for Action, was published by Health
Administration Press in 1999.
In early 2000, we undertook a project to develop a model for value-based
partnering in a healthcare system. This model centered on the idea that value
in health care arises from collaborative relationships among all of the
stakeholders in the system. These relationships are defined by a range of
factors that extend beyond the traditional financial considerations. We worked
with The Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati to test this
model. Our work resulted in four published articles:
-
Young, David W., John W. Kenagy, Sheila M. McCarthy, Diana Barrett, and Diane C. Pinakiewicz, "Value-Based Partnering in Healthcare: A Framework for Analysis" (Journal of Healthcare Management, March/April, 2001);
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Young, David W., John W. Kenagy, Sheila M. McCarthy, Diana Barrett, and Diane C. Pinakiewicz, "Beyond Health Care Cost Containment: Creating Collaborative Arrangements Among the Stakeholders" (International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 2001);
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Kenagy, John W., David W. Young, Sheila M. McCarthy, Diana Barrett, and Diane C. Pinakiewicz, "Toward a Value-Based Health Care System" (The American Journal of Medicine, February 2001);
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Young, David W., John W. Kenagy, Sheila M. McCarthy, Diana Barrett, and Diane C. Pinakiewicz, "Value-Based Partnering in Health Care" (Benefits Quarterly, Second Quarter, 2001).
We undertake curriculum development activities as part of our management education efforts and field research projects. Our goal is to develop materials that allow participants in our programs and other healthcare management education programs to better understand and analyze the strategic, organizational, and financial issues at work in complex settings. We have written case studies on several leading health systems such as: Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, Fletcher Allen Health Care, and Boston University Medical Center Hospital. These, and over 250 other case studies and readings, are distributed through The Crimson Press Curriculum Center.
We are based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. All our faculty associates hold advanced degrees and most have doctoral degrees. Our principal, David W. Young, earned his doctorate from the Harvard Business School, and has taught for
over 35 years in Harvard's programs for Chiefs of Clinical Service and Leadership Development in Healthcare. Collectively, he and TCG's faculty associates, have well over a century of experience in executive education programs at Harvard University and elsewhere.
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