US Army-Navy Hospital Merger, Part A

This case study is one in a four-part series describing the largest, most expensive, and controversial hospital merger in U.S. history. Case A focuses on Vice Admiral Dr. John Mateczun, a three-star Navy admiral who led the merger of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Military Center in Bethesda, Maryland between 2011 and 2014. The case invites student discussion about leadership styles and the importance of persuasion, negotiation, communication, and personal character. Case B explores the difficulties of merging organizations with significant cultural differences. A short accompanying video offers a history of the two hospitals and demonstrates the urgency of the medical needs of Walter Reed patients during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. The series epilogue examines the outcomes in 2014, three years after the merger.

This case series is part of a case collection produced by the Harvard Kennedy School (HKS) Case Program, hosted by the HKS Strengthening Learning and Teaching Excellence (SLATE) initiative, the world’s largest producer and repository of case studies designed for teaching about how government works and how public policy is made. Each case in the series is designed to train public leaders, and introduces actual policy dilemmas along with data to equip students to learn how to apply the rigor of quantitative analysis in the real world.

This case may be purchased for a nominal fee; registered educators may obtain a free review copy. Online supplemental resources include short free documents and videos on how to teach with the case method, as well as downloadable related tip sheets and questions for class discussion.