The decision technologies, tools and theories of Operations Research and Management Sciences have long been applied to a wide range of issues and problems within health care. To date, however, there has been no single handbook that synthesizes the wide applicability of such techniques. The Handbook of Operations Research and Health Care now makes available to practitioners, students, and researchers a comprehensive handbook volume that will help them improve their ability to apply these decision technologies. In addition, the handbook will present new state-of-the-art techniques, explore new issues and challenges, and examine new avenues for research. This handbook will fill these needs in a three-fold approach: It reviews health care systems (in the U.S., other developed countries, and developing countries), their structure, environment, and evolution. It reviews key issues, problems, and challenges experienced today and to be expected in the future. It synthesizes decision technology applications published in the last 10 years. It describes which health care delivery issues, problems, and challenges were addressed in the past, while highlighting areas for future operations research/management science work in health care. It provides a comprehensive series of state-of-the-art applications - each of which are written by a leading authority - detailing the problem area, the methodology (or methodologies) employed, the implementation, the results, and the issues/avenues raised for future research. Each topic will be structured and addressed in such a way that a wide audience will be able to access and use the materials presented. The following topics are examined in the volume: Introduction/ Overview: Health care delivery in the US and elsewhere, OR/MS in health, a 10 year overview. Health Care Operations Improvement: Scheduling and workforce planning, Inventory management, Supply chain management, Logistics planning and modeling, Equipment planning, Planning, Facility location and layout, Workforce workload models, Decision support systems, Performance measurement modeling, Queueing models, Quality management. Economic Analysis: Equipment evaluation selection models, Optimal pricing and costing models, Demand forecasting and planning models, Impact of policies on health care demand, Technology assessment. Public Policy: Regional planning and network models, Access and availability population models, Technology diffusion models, Disease prevention, Health care coverage, Vaccine modeling, Organ allocation models, Disease screening, Resource allocation, Drug policies, Blood supply management policies. Clinical Applications: Risk assessment and analysis, Clinical diagnosis and decision making, Decision support systems, Disease modeling (individual level), Treatment design and planning, Drug selection models, Optimal dosing models, Vaccine models, Clinical quality. The handbook will serve a large multidisciplinary audience that includes: Decision technology practitioners, students, scientists and researchers with interest (either new interest or existing expertise) in health care, Practitioners in health sciences, health administration, public health, health care delivery, and health policy.
