Ken Chung, PhD and Wendell N. Chin, MBA California State University at Eastbay Asian Health Services (AHS) is a not-for-profit community health care provider that focuses on serving ethnic Asians in...

Ken Chung, PhD and Wendell N. Chin, MBA

California State University at Eastbay

Asian Health Services (AHS) is a not-for-profit community health care provider that focuses on serving ethnic Asians in Oakland, California. With the advent of the Affordable Care Act (ACA or “Obamacare”), AHS had been preparing vigorously for significant changes. Now that the initial operational systems were in place, AHS’s CEO Sherry Hirota must decide what proposals to include in a coherent blue ocean strategy presentation at the upcoming board meeting that balanced AHS’s dual mission of social benefit against generating more revenues than costs. Looming threats included payments moving from pay-for-service to pay-per-patient or even pay-for-value. As the original founders had identified a blue ocean (i.e. uncontested markets) in the health care environment 40 years ago, now Hirota must find another blue ocean.