Health Care Needs an Uber
Supply is at the heart of America’s health care cost problem, according to John H. Cochrane, Click To Tweet a senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution. In the video “The Grumpy Economist: We need an Uber for health care,” he explains how the disruptive forces of competition and technological innovation can help bypass existing regulations to reinvent a category. If hospitals had more competition, and if the thicket of regulations governing the opening of new health care facilities could be circumvented, we would have better and cheaper health care, Cochrane argues.
Defying the Law of Large Numbers
Probability theory says that the more times something happens, the flatter and more predictable the results. Results at Salesforce.com are breaking all those rules. With more than 100,000 users, the customer relationship management company is seeing results that continue to leap rather than increase incrementally. Revenues in 2015 were up 32 percent year over year to nearly $5.4 billion.
Resolutions and Results
Remember that New Year’s resolution to lose weight and get healthier? It’s probably the same resolution you’ve made every year. Now there are free apps that will help you keep that promise. They’re bossy but helpful.
Starting slowly—let’s call it the warm-up—is Human, which only asks that you give it 30 minutes a day of whatever activity you choose. It tracks your movement and lets you know when you’ve accomplished your goal for the day.
If you need more of a nudge, there’s Pact, which asks you to promise a number of days you’ll work out and to put up a certain amount of money. If you don’t show up on a given day, you have to pay. It will do the same for what you eat. How much are you willing to pay for that brownie?
For those who need a customized solution, there’s Lose It! You enter your weight-loss and fitness goals, and it designs a program for you. It even includes a bar code scanner so you can track exactly what you eat. This app will connect to all your devices, including e-readers, to make it extra handy—or inescapable, depending on how you look at it.
On the Rebound
Apparel retailer Lululemon hasn’t lost its footing.
After a series of public relations and product blunders, Lululemon Athletica posted solid results in fiscal 2015, with 10 percent higher revenues and more than double its price per share, from 13 cents to 34 cents year over year. At the same time, the retailer of yoga and fitness apparel has maintained very high individual store productivity, bringing in $2,961 per square foot annually, more than four times the Canadian national average. The Vancouver, Canada-based company is expanding rapidly with 50 new stores set to open by mid-2016 and an aggressive move into men’s fitness apparel.
