Takeaways Higher education shares some important characteristics with the health-care sector. Both are dominated by large cadres of highly educated staff, have complex bottom lines, are market-driven and strongly influenced by public policy, and are made up of value-driven organizations. Health care appears to be one or two decades ahead of higher education in its transformation into an industry that is more outcomes-based, cost- and price-sensitive, and responsive to customer needs. Some of the insights that higher education can gain from health care include: Flawed systems generate flawed results; the focus should be on needs, costs, and undervalued services; wisdom comes from customers; change is driven by hard facts; and balancing demands with purpose is most important.