Postcards

Health-care reform Rx: power to the people

As the debate about health-care reform rages endlessly, everyone with a vested interest (that's all of us) might consider a few priorities.

Such as: Revamp the fee-for-service model--because when doctors get paid for each service they perform, costs go up inevitably. Reward value. Reduce end-of-life care costs. Improve delivery. The list goes on.

What may be most important of all? Empowering consumers. We explored this topic on Friday during a health-care roundtable MORE

The debate about generic drugs

By Jessica Shambora

We struck a nerve yesterday. Our post about a study on consumer perceptions and use of generic drugs ignited a firestorm of comments.

That firestorm came from all directions. Some readers attacked Big Pharma. Others blasted the generic manufacturers. Some commenters hit both.

Dan from Hiram, Maine said, "After drug companies obscenely cranked up drug prices over the past 5 years, a generic drug at 30-50% price reduction is still vastly MORE

The truth about generic drugs

By Jessica Shambora

Health care reform is front and center -- and an insanely complicated issue. When someone talks about simple solutions, it's time to listen. So we were all ears when Jacqueline Kosecoff, CEO of Prescription Solutions, came by Fortune last week and sat down with us to talk about generic drugs.

Up in New York City after a day on Capitol Hill, Kosecoff was eager to talk about how her MORE

Most Powerful Women take New York

"Betting on the Future." That's the 2009 theme of Fortune's Most Powerful Women, who convened in New York City last evening for a mega-celebration and some very smart conversation. I'm not sure I belong on stage with three superstars under 40: Bank analyst Meredith Whitney, Google's (GOOG) Marissa Mayer, and Goldman Sachs' (GS) Dina Powell. But there I was (at age 49), talking with them them about how they've navigated MORE

Genentech president jumps to a new life

Another Fortune Most Powerful Woman -- a longtime member of our annual Power 50 list -- is leaving the corporate world. Susan Desmond-Hellmann, who was Genentech's (DNA) president of product development, is heading to the University of California San Francisco as chancellor.

Desmond-Hellmann's departure from business's upper echelons (She ranked No. 13 on Fortune's 2008 Power 50 list) adds to the trend of top women execs leaving corporations and deciding not MORE

One secret of J&J's success: Diversify within a single industry

by Jessica Shambora

For this year's Fortune 500 issue, senior writer Geoff Colvin and I had the chance to look inside one of the list's most enduring performers: Johnson & Johnson (JNJ). The New Brunswick, N.J.-based health care giant is notoriously media shy, but in the midst of the economic doom and gloom, the company decided it was time to tell its 123-year story of success. What a story that is. MORE

Power Point: Don't waste your gray matter

"I'm one of these who believes you have so much gray matter in your head. And if you take all your gray matter and you worry about what you can't control, you're wasting an awful lot of good gray matter, right?"

--Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) CEO Bill Weldon, in a recent interview with Fortune. The New Jersey-based maker of Band-Aids, knee replacements, and prescription drugs--and a bellwether for the health-care industry--announced MORE

Guest Post: The innovator's Rx for health care

by Clayton M. Christensen and Jason Hwang

It's strange to think that not long ago, the ability of ordinary people to access a blog like this from a PC, laptop or cell phone was the stuff of science fiction. But the advent of the microprocessor, which simplified computer design and assembly, brought computing out of corporate mainframe centers and into our homes.

The microprocessor was what we call a "technological enabler" of MORE

PepsiCo's and J&J's top women on the move

Fortune's No. 1 Most Powerful Woman, PepsiCo (PEP) Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi, delivered disappointing quarterly earnings this morning and said that the company will close up to six plants and cut 3,300 jobs. PepsiCo stock is down 9% to $56 in midday trading.

Meanwhile, another Most Powerful Woman--a newcomer to the 2008 rankings released two weeks ago--is on a roll. Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ) Sheri McCoy, No. 44 on our MORE

Power Point: Think ahead, for your health

"It's essential for anyone who cares about medical research and health care to begin thinking about the world five years from now -- not just the world today. Steps should be taken to leverage this movement -- to allocate our capital, both financial and intellectual, for maximum impact in the drive toward cures."

--Katie Hood, CEO of the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research (MJFF). Hood's words are a rallying MORE