Operations research and health care : a handbook of methods and applications

In both rich and poor nations, public resources for health care are inadequate to meet demand. Policy makers and health care providers must determine how to provide the most effective health care to citizens using the limited resources that are available. This chapter describes current and future challenges in the delivery of health care, and outlines the role that operations research (OR) models can play in helping to solve those problems. The chapter concludes with an overview of this book - its intended audience, the areas covered, and a description of the subsequent chapters. KEY WORDS Health care delivery, Health care planning HEALTH CARE DELIVERY: PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES 3 1.1 WORLDWIDE HEALTH: THE PAST 50 YEARS Human health has improved significantly in the last 50 years. In 1950, global life expectancy was 46 years [1]. That figure rose to 61 years by 1980 and to 67 years by 1998 [2]. Much of these gains occurred in low- and middle-income countries, and were due in large part to improved nutrition and sanitation, medical innovations, and improvements in public health infrastructure.

Margaret L. Brandeau and Francois Sainfort and William P. PierskallaLinda V. GreenMark S. Daskin and Latoya K. DeanShane G. Henderson and Andrew J. MasonWilliam P. PierskallaLiam O'Neill and Franklin DexterYasar A. Ozcan and Elizabeth Merwin and Kwangsoo Lee and Joseph P. MorrisseyMichael W. Carter and John T. BlakeRose BakerThitima Kongnakorn and Francois SainfortAnke RichterJonathan P. CaulkinsGregory S. ZaricHarold PollackDouglas K. Owens and Donna M. Edwards and John F. Cavallaro and Ross D. ShachterSheldon H. Jacobson and Edward C. SewellMargaret L. BrandeauStephen E. Chick and Sada Soorapanth and James S. KoopmanRuth Davies and Sally C. BrailsfordEdward H. Kaplan and Lawrence M. WeinStefanos A. ZeniosMike Cushman and Jonathan RosenheadAndrew J. Schaefer and Matthew D. Bailey and Steven M. Shechter and Mark S. RobertsGordon B. HazenM. Elisabeth Pate-CornellA. David Paltiel and Karen M. Kuntz and Scott T. Weiss and Anne L. FuhlbriggeDaniel L. Rubin and Elizabeth S. Burnside and Ross ShachterEva K. Lee and Marco ZaiderAllen HolderMichael C. Ferris and Jinho Lim and David M. ShepardJames S. Koopman and Ximin Lin and Stephen E. Chick and Janet R. GilsdorfDavid L. Craft and Lawrence M. Wein and Dennis J. Selkoe

Introduction
1 Health Care Delivery: Current Problems and Future Challenges	p. 1
Health Care Operations Management
2 Capacity Planning and Management in Hospitals	p. 15
3 Location of Health Care Facilities	p. 43
4 Ambulance Service Planning: Simulation and Data Visualization	p. 77
5 Supply Chain Management of Blood Banks	p. 103
6 Evaluating the Efficiency of Hospitals' Perioperative Services Using DEA	p. 147
7 Benchmarking Using DEA: The Case of Mental Health Organizations	p. 169
8 Using Simulation in an Acute-Care Hospital: Easier Said Than Done	p. 191
Public Policy and Economic Analysis
9 Estimating Risks to the Public Health	p. 217
10 Modeling Health Outcomes for Economic Analysis	p. 255
11 Duct Tape for Decision Makers: The Use of OR Models in Pharmacoeconomics	p. 275
12 Drug Policy: Insights from Mathematical Analysis	p. 297
13 Modeling the Costs and Effects of Maintenance Treatment for Opiate Addiction	p. 333
14 Harm Reduction in the Control of Infectious Diseases Among Injection Drug Users	p. 363
15 The Cost Effectiveness of Partially Effective HIV Vaccines	p. 403
16 Designing Pediatric Formularies for Childhood Immunization Using Integer Programming Models	p. 419
17 Allocating Resources to Control Infectious Diseases	p. 443
18 Microbial Risk Assessment for Drinking Water	p. 465
19 Screening for Diabetic Retinopathy	p. 493
20 Decision Making for Bioterror Preparedness: Examples from Smallpox Vaccination Policy	p. 519
21 Models for Kidney Allocation	p. 537
22 Planning in the Face of Politics: Reshaping Children's Health Services in Inner London	p. 555
Clinical Applications
23 Modeling Medical Treatment Using Makov Decision Processes	p. 593
24 Dynamic Influence Diagrams: Applications to Medical Decision Modeling	p. 613
25 Assessment of the Benefits of Anesthesia Patient Risk Reduction Measures	p. 639
26 An Asthma Policy Model	p. 659
27 A Bayesian Network to Assist Mammography Interpretation	p. 695
28 Optimization and Decision Support in Brachytherapy Treatment Planning	p. 721
29 Radiotherapy Treatment Design and Linear Programming	p. 741
30 Optimization Tools for Radiation Treatment Planning in Matlab	p. 775
31 Transmission Model Analysis of Non-Typeable Haemophilus Influenzae	p. 807
32 The Impact of Novel Treatments on A[beta] Burden in Alzheimer's Disease: Insights from a Mathematical Model	p. 839
Index	p. 867

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