Medical professionals are doomed – unless we learn from Nvidia and Intel.

The technology industry is experiencing dramatic upheaval. Two giants, Nvidia and Intel, are heading in opposite directions. Once a niche player in graphics processing, Nvidia has become the world’s most valuable company, surpassing Apple and Microsoft in market capitalization. Meanwhile, once a giant of computing innovation, Intel’s stock price has plummeted, its CEO has stepped down, and its place in the Dow Jones Industrial Average has been taken over by Nvidia.

At first glance, the rise and fall of these companies may seem unrelated to healthcare. But the strategic decisions that propelled Nvidia to dominance and led to Intel’s decline offer three important lessons for an industry under increasing pressure.

With half the country unable to afford the care they need, patient satisfaction levels at a 20-year low, and governments ramping up efforts to reduce healthcare costs, the healthcare industry has reached a tipping point. If healthcare professionals fail to adapt to these increasing pressures, they risk endangering both their livelihoods and their well-being.

Lesson 1: Price matters

Intel has learned the hard way that even if you are an industry leader in providing superior quality, you cannot raise prices indefinitely.

In the 1970s, Intel dominated the memory chip market, producing high-performance silicon semiconductors at premium prices. However, by the end of the decade, Japanese competitors began offering high-quality chips at much lower prices. Faced with declining market share and shrinking profits, Intel CEO Andy Grove and founder Gordon Moore made a pivotal decision in the early 1980s. It exited the memory chip market entirely and focused on microprocessors, proprietary chips that help run cars, refrigerators, and phones. .

Despite internal resistance and financial challenges during the transition, Intel’s decision to pivot from memory chips to microprocessors not only saved the company, but also provided it with technological superiority for the next two decades. established. This bold move demonstrates the need for strategic changes in response to changing market forces.

Medical professionals similarly face an urgent need to adapt. For years, doctors operating in traditional fee-for-service models have maintained their income by performing more procedures and charging higher fees. However, these strategies are no longer viable.

Medicare’s recent announcement that it will reduce physician reimbursement rates by 2.9% in 2025, and hints that private insurers may also do so, makes it clear that the financial model of the past is breaking down. There is. Healthcare workers must adapt to survive. The question is, how?

Lesson 2: There’s more than one way to create value

Intel’s success in transitioning from memory chips to microprocessors was not just about abandoning failed products. It was about recognizing new opportunities and taking advantage of them.

But in the 21st century, Intel’s resistance to change proved costly. While Intel continued to focus on traditional CPUs (Central Processing Units) designed for sequential tasks such as word processing and Internet searching, NVIDIA focused on a newer and more powerful technology, Graphics Processing Units ( The company made a breakthrough by pioneering the GPU (GPU).

Originally created to render the complex visuals of video games, Nvidia’s GPU contains hundreds of microprocessors that can operate in parallel. This allows thousands of calculations to be performed simultaneously, making GPUs much more efficient than CPUs for tasks that require large-scale data processing. This adaptability makes GPUs essential for generative AI applications such as natural language processing and large-scale data analysis. This strategic shift has given Nvidia an edge in the industry and enabled it to achieve unparalleled success in the market.

For companies using Nvidia’s chips, the benefits outweigh the costs. GPU-powered applications allow a small number of individuals to perform work that would otherwise require a much larger team. The lessons for medicine are clear. Success lies in meeting the needs of patients in the future, rather than sticking to outdated approaches that have worked in the past.

Historically, medicine has primarily served to meet the needs of patients with acute illnesses such as pneumonia, appendicitis, and bone fractures. To this end, a fee-for-service model was created, allowing providers to bill for each specific intervention. But today, the situation has changed dramatically. Chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension currently account for 60% of all medical conditions and at least 70% of healthcare costs.

Just as Nvidia reimagined its products to meet future demands, healthcare professionals must shift their focus and technology to address the challenges of chronic disease. The CDC estimates that by preventing these conditions and managing them more effectively when they occur, doctors could reduce complications such as heart attacks, strokes, cancer, and kidney failure by 30 to 50 percent. It is said that there is. This not only saves lives and improves public health, but also saves employers and government health programs hundreds of billions of dollars annually.

From a strategic perspective, this change will match Nvidia’s success with GPUs (in contrast to Intel’s failure to adapt beyond CPUs). For healthcare professionals, adopting a similar approach could lead to increased income and greater autonomy.

Today, chronic diseases remain poorly managed. Hypertension is the cause of 40% of strokes, but is controlled in only 60% of patients. Diabetes, a leading cause of heart attacks and kidney failure, can be effectively managed less than half of the time. Addressing these gaps not only improves outcomes but also allows clinicians to take back control of their care, which leads to the third and final lesson.

Lesson 3: Success requires risk.

As Intel’s leaders grappled with the company’s struggling memory chip business, Andy Grove asked Gordon Moore, “If we were forced out and the board brought in a new CEO, what do you think he would do?” This is a famous story.

Both sides agreed that the new leader would withdraw from memory chips. This decision required bold initiatives and greater tolerance for risk, which most healthcare leaders lacked.

Nearly 20 years ago, Intel hesitated to shift its focus to GPUs, clinging to CPUs as its core business. If Intel had taken advantage of its vast resources and adopted GPUs, it would have crushed Nvidia. By not taking action, the company endured financial difficulties and became increasingly worthless.

Healthcare professionals must choose to become Nvidia or Intel, choosing between adopting new strategies that benefit providers, payers, and patients, or sticking with outdated practices and payment models. There is.

Thousands of clinicians are already seeking to escape the healthcare industry’s growing challenges of financial stress, burnout, and declining reimbursement by partnering with hospitals or selling their practices to private equity firms. It is said that But in conversations with hundreds of doctors, most said the results were disappointing. While many report a loss of autonomy and unfulfilled promises of financial benefits, burnout rates remain high.

To improve their fortunes, healthcare providers must move to care models designed to address chronic diseases. Rather than managing patients with sporadic visits every few months, medical professionals need to adopt a more continuous approach. Wearable devices can provide daily monitoring, and generative AI tools can notify when a patient’s condition is stable or when intervention is required.

Success also requires building large physician groups, prioritizing primary care, and providing patients with the latest technology.

This change in healthcare delivery will require new payment models. Piece-rate reimbursement that encourages quantity over outcomes is misaligned with the goal of preventing life-threatening medical complications. Instead, clinicians should embrace value-based care, where providers receive a fixed fee for managing population health. This model rewards physicians for improved prevention and management of chronic diseases and aligns financial incentives with patient health outcomes.

This transformation will not be easy or painless. Some hospitals will close and traditional medical practices will be curtailed. Training programs need to train more primary care physicians and reduce the number of specialists. However, these changes are essential for the survival of the profession. Failure to adapt will only exacerbate the challenges facing both patients and clinicians in the coming years.

Biggest lesson: Act now.

The rise of Nvidia and the fall of Intel highlight the universal truth that change happens slowly and eventually stops. Healthcare has reached a tipping point, and clinicians who have the courage to embrace innovation will succeed, while those who hesitate or take only baby steps will falter.

Andy Grove expressed this reality: “Most companies don’t die because they’re wrong. Most people die because they don’t commit themselves. They waste valuable resources while trying to make a decision. You will make a mess.The biggest danger is to stop.”

Medical professionals must now decide whether to lead the way, like Nvidia, or stand alone, like Intel. The stakes are no more.