Application of Management Science in Healthcare

Applications of Management Science in the Health Care Industry: A Review of

Recent Edelman Award Finalist Presentations

Health Care Overview

Healthcare covers a wide spectrum of disparate activities. Although the end goals of health care are to cure illness, maintain health, and improve quality of life, the ability to accomplish these tasks depends on the integration of successful activities of many subsystems, including the actual clinical care of the patients, the ability to finance health care operations, and the creation of efficient and effective processes to implement all the various components of a complex health care system.  Health Care organizations have many different sizes, structures and methods of operations, but they all serve to promote improvement in individual health and in the health of the public, while remaining sustainable from a financial aspect at both the micro- and macro health economics levels.

In essence, Public Health deals involves the protection and enhancement of our communities and its individuals by promoting healthy lifestyles, preventing disease and promoting injury prevention.  Health care professionals contribute by facilitating the prevention of health problems, conducting disease research, implementing preventive strategies and fostering a healthy environment.  The CDC (Center for Disease Control) is one of the foremost public health agencies in the U.S. The health care system is incredibly complex, with national and state legislative bodies implementing legislative programs and with the legal system defining

what can and cannot be done within the health care system.

In order to effectively serve the public, the health care system, which faces countless challenges in every direction, must orchestrate its activities and processes in the most effective and efficient manner possible. Operations research brings to...