Healthcare professionals are doomed unless they learn from Nvidia and Intel

The technology industry is experiencing a dramatic shake-up. Two of its giants, Nvidia and Intel, are moving in opposite directions. Nvidia, once a niche player in graphics processing, has become one the world’s most valuable companysurpassing Apple and Microsoft in terms of market capitalization. Meanwhile, Intel, a former titan of computer innovation, has seen it its stock price plummets, the CEO retires and its place in the Dow Jones Industrial Average transferred to Nvidia.

At first glance, the rise and fall of these companies may not seem relevant to healthcare. But the strategic decisions that propelled Nvidia to dominance – and sent Intel into decline – offer three crucial lessons for an industry under increasing pressure.

With half the country are unable to afford necessary medical carepatient satisfaction at a 20-year lowand the government is intensifying its efforts to this end reduce healthcare expenditurethe sector has reached a turning point. If healthcare professionals fail to adapt to these increasing pressures, they risk jeopardizing both their livelihoods and the well-being of those they serve.

Lesson one: Price matters

Intel has learned the hard way that even industry leaders that offer exceptional quality cannot keep prices rising indefinitely.

In the seventies Intel dominated the memory chip marketwhich produces high-quality silicon semiconductors at premium prices. However, by the end of the decade, Japanese competitors began offering good quality chips at much lower prices. Facing declining market share and shrinking profits, Intel’s CEO Andy Grove and founder Gordon Moore made a crucial decision in the early 1980s: They left the memory chip market completely and switched to microprocessors: uniquely designed chips that help run our cars, refrigerators, and phones.

Despite internal resistance and financial challenges during the transition, Intel’s decision to move from memory chips to microprocessors not only saved the company but also established its technological dominance for the next twenty years. This bold move illustrates the need for strategic change in response to changing market forces.

Healthcare professionals face a similar urgent need to adapt. For years, doctors operating under the traditional fee-for-service model have maintained their income by performing more procedures and charging higher fees. But these strategies are no longer viable.

Medicare’s recent announcement of a 2.9% discount on physician compensation rates for 2025 – and private insurers signaling potential parallel cuts – make it clear that the financial model of the past is crumbling. Healthcare professionals must adapt to survive. The question is: how?

Lesson two: There is more than one way to create value

Intel’s success in moving from memory chips to microprocessors wasn’t just about abandoning a failing product. It was about recognizing and taking advantage of new opportunities.

In the 21st century, however, Intel’s resistance to change proved costly. While Intel continued to focus on traditional CPUs (central processing units) – designed for sequential tasks like word processing and Internet searching – Nvidia took a leap forward by pioneering a newer, more powerful technology: graphics processing units, or GPUs.

Nvidia’s GPUs were originally created to render the complex visuals of video games and contain hundreds of microprocessors that can work in parallel. This allows them to perform thousands of calculations simultaneously, making GPUs much more effective than CPUs for tasks that require extensive data processing. This adaptability has made GPUs indispensable for generative AI applications, including natural language processing and large-scale data analysis. This strategic pivot propelled Nvidia to an industry dominance and unprecedented market success.

For companies using Nvidia’s chips, the results outweigh the costs. Applications powered by GPUs allow a few individuals to perform work that would otherwise require a much larger team. The lesson for healthcare is clear: success lies in meeting the future needs of patients, not in clinging to outdated approaches that worked in the past.

Historically, healthcare has primarily served the needs of patients with acute conditions such as pneumonia, appendicitis, or broken bones. The fee-for-service model has been built for this purpose, whereby providers can invoice per specific intervention. But today the landscape has changed dramatically. Chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure now account for 60% of all medical conditions and at least 70% of healthcare costs.

Just as Nvidia has reimagined its offerings to meet the demands of the future, healthcare professionals must shift their focus and technology to address the challenges of chronic disease. By preventing these conditions and treating them more effectively when they arise, doctors can reduce complications such as heart attacks, stroke, cancer and kidney failure by 30-50%, according to CDC estimates. This would not only save lives and improve public health, but also save hundreds of billions of dollars annually for employers and government healthcare programs.

From a strategic perspective, this shift would parallel Nvidia’s success with GPUs (as opposed to Intel’s inability to adapt beyond CPUs). For healthcare professionals, a similar approach could lead to higher income and greater autonomy.

Today, chronic diseases are still poorly managed. Hypertension, responsible for 40% of strokes, is controlled in only 60% of patients. Diabetes, the leading cause of heart attacks and kidney failure, is effectively treated less than half of the time. Addressing these gaps would not only improve outcomes, but also allow physicians to regain control over medical care—which would lead to the third and final lesson.

Lesson Three: Success requires risk

As Intel’s leaders struggled with a faltering memory chip business, Andy Grove famously asked Gordon Moore“If we were kicked out and the board appointed a new CEO, what do you think he would do?”

Both agreed: the new leader would abandon the memory chips. That decision required bold commitment and a greater tolerance for risk – something most healthcare leaders lack.

Nearly two decades ago, Intel hesitated to pivot to GPUs, clinging to CPUs as its core business. If Intel had committed its vast resources to embracing GPUs, it would have crushed Nvidia. By failing to act, the company has suffered financial setbacks and has become increasingly irrelevant.

Healthcare professionals must choose whether to be Nvidia or Intel, embracing a new strategy that benefits providers, payers and patients, or choosing to stick with outdated practices and payment models.

Thousands of physicians have already tried to escape medicine’s mounting challenges — financial strain, burnout, declining reimbursement — by joining forces with hospitals or selling their practices to private equity firms. But based on my conversations with hundreds of doctors, most describe the results as disappointing. Many report a loss of autonomy and unfulfilled promises of financial gain, while burnout rates remain as high as ever.

To improve their fortunes, healthcare professionals must transition to a care model designed to address chronic diseases. Rather than treating patients through sporadic office visits every few months, healthcare professionals should take a more continuous approach. Wearable devices can provide daily monitoring, while generative AI tools can alert patients when their condition is stable or requires intervention.

Achieving success will also require them to form large physician groups, prioritize primary care, and provide patients with modern technology.

This shift in healthcare delivery will require a new payment model. Fee-for-service pricing that prioritizes volume over outcomes is inconsistent with the goal of preventing life-threatening medical complications. Instead, physicians must adopt value-based care, in which providers receive a fixed amount of money to manage the health of a population. This model rewards physicians for preventing and better managing chronic diseases, aligning financial incentives with patients’ health outcomes.

The transformation will not be easy or painless. Some hospitals will close and traditional practices will shrink. Residency programs will need to train more primary care physicians and fewer specialists. But these changes are essential to the survival of the profession. If we do not adapt, the challenges that both patients and physicians will face in the coming years will only increase.

The biggest lesson: act now

The rise of Nvidia and the fall of Intel underscore a universal truth: change happens slowly – until it doesn’t. Healthcare has reached a tipping point and physicians who boldly embrace innovation will thrive, while those who hesitate or take only small steps forward will wither away.

Andy Grove summed up this reality when he said, “Most companies don’t die because they’re wrong; most die because they don’t engage. They waste their valuable resources trying to make a decision. The greatest danger lies in standing still.”

Healthcare professionals must now decide whether they will lead the way like Nvidia, or face irrelevance like Intel. The stakes couldn’t be higher.