10 Movies Every Health Exec Should See

“William Hurt does a great job of reversing the vantage point of a healthcare leader, from that of a position of dominance to that of a patient in a disadvantaged position. It helps us remind us all that patients are what matters the most when it comes to successful execution of healthcare business models."

-Steven Lee, MD, an eye surgeon and co-founder and chief science officer of Opternative, a Chicago-based healthcare technology company

“It is a great movie on leadership. Because [the star] Gene Hackman does a great job getting the basketball team to perform beyond their abilities and there are scenes where he is a true leader.”

 -Perry Cohen, CEO, The Pharmacy Group

“This is a baseball movie starring Brad Pitt based on a book by Michael Lewis. It tells the true story of how the 2002 Oakland Athletics assembled a competitive baseball team of undervalued players. Pitt plays the team manager who discards all conventional wisdom in managing a ball team and instead takes a counter intuitive, statistical analysis approach to scouting and evaluating players. By focusing on relevant data-driven insights, Pitt’s team delivers the longest winning streak in American League history. While it’s an entertaining ‘rags-to-riches’ story, there’s an important business message as well. Analytics and insights need to be our beacons. This is especially true in healthcare as we drive toward the goal of evidence-based medicine.”

-Mark Boxer, global CIO, Cigna

“This is an American sports docudrama about the United States men's hockey team, led by head coach Herb Brooks. They find the ‘why’ and then are ready to believe. Great movie about coaching, preparation, and motivation.”

-Jim Higgins, founder and CEO, Solutionreach, a patient relationship management solutions company in Lehi, Utah

“[The character] Atticus Finch wasn't the brawny, football-playing hero his children wanted him to be, but he was fighting the right fight and taking on a deeply rooted problem with bravery and persistence. Solving for healthcare for the good of everyone is complex, and often painful, and the solutions are not always sexy or exciting-but it’s the right cause-and we need strong, persistent leadership."

- Dorit Baxter, senior vice president, marketing at TransMed Systems, a Memphis based provider of data-driven software for clinical trial recruitment and sites management

“To get to the moon … we had to change our culture. As I meet with healthcare payers and providers, I see most of them doing more, but doing more of what they’ve done for decades versus having the courage to disrupt their processes. When the black women who had been segregated within the NASA system marched to the massive new computer in the movie saying ‘My girls are ready. We can do the work,’ that was powerful. Seeing the white man who was the overall leader of the team bash down a ‘white’s only’ sign over the bathroom and clarify ‘we all get to the peak together or we don’t get there at all,’ that needs to be the spirit in healthcare technology today.”

 -Tanya Traverse, vice president of marketing for Gray Matter Analytics a Chicago-based healthcare analytics solutions company

“One of my favorites-the 1957 version. It shows the stark reality of day-to-day leadership in the context of a jury deliberation. Henry Fonda does a superb job of demonstrating how to calmly and logically sell an idea that may initially be unpopular or poorly understood. It’s a timeless masterclass in how to create alignment across a team with conflicting priorities and perspectives.”

-Graham Hughes, MD, chief executive of Sutherland Healthcare, a provider of transformational services to the healthcare industry

“127 Hours is a movie I would advise any other healthcare executive to watch because it exemplifies a never-say-die attitude, literally. We, at the forefront of health technology and innovation, will always face challenges to overcome, but we must continue to fight, adapt, and invent in order to reach our goals and make a difference.”

-Vik Panda, vice president of marketing at Silicon Valley-based Adherium, a digital health technology company focused on the sub-optimal use of medication in managing chronic diseases

“This movie is inspired by the California Water Wars, a series of disputes over southern California water at the beginning of the 20th century. We can only get to work on solving society’s toughest problems when we start to appreciate both how incentives drive behavior and how broken the underlying systems are. Disclaimer: Jack Nicholson's character would probably not make for the best healthcare entrepreneur!”

-Josh Weiner, COO, Solutionreach, a patient relationship management solutions company in Lehi, Utah

“One aspect of healthcare that makes it so challenging is that each stakeholder-from the providers to the payers to the patients-is different, and we often don't communicate as effectively as we can. ‘The Breakfast Club’ reminds us that we can find common ground when we truly listen and respect one another’s differences-and that we’re better together.” 

- Dorit Baxter, senior vice president, marketing at TransMed Systems, a Memphis-based provider of data-driven software for clinical trial recruitment and sites management