Advanced Decision Making Methods Applied to Health Care

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-viii

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2. Workforce management based on forecasted demand

   • Bernardetta Addis, Roberto Aringhieri, Giuliana Carello, Andrea Grosso, Francesco Maffioli

   Pages 1-11

3. Operating rooms scheduling under uncertainty

   • Isabelle Beaulieu, Michel Gendreau, Patrick Soriano

   Pages 13-32

4. Idealised design and modelling of alternatives to hospital care

   • Tom Bowen, Paul Forte

   Pages 33-50

5. A coordination model for enhancing research on rare diseases

   • Michela Chessa, Vito Fragnelli, Stefano Gagliardo

   Pages 51-66

6. Integrating simulation and risk-based sensitivity analysis methods in hospital emergency department design

   • Fatah Chetouane, Kash Barker

   Pages 67-82

7. Technical and scale efficiencies of Catholic hospitals: Does a system value of stewardship matter?

   • Tiang-Hong Chou, Yasar A. Ozcan, Kenneth R. White

   Pages 83-101

8. Optimal allocation of urban nuclei to hospital birth centres in a geographical region

   • Paola Facchin, Anna Ferrante, Elena Rizzato, Giorgio Romanin-Jacur, Laura Salmaso

   Pages 103-120

9. The nurse-to-patient assignment problem in Home Care services

   • Ettore Lanzarone, Andrea Matta

   Pages 121-139

10. Prioritizing health care interventions: A multicriteria resource allocation model to inform the choice of community care programmes

    • Mónica D. Oliveira, Teresa C. Rodrigues, Carlos A. Bana e Costa, Armando Brito de Sá

    Pages 141-154

11. An analysis of the financial statements of Italian health care providers through correlation-based networks

    • Marina Resta

    Pages 155-171

12. Using data envelopment analysis for formative evaluation of radiotherapy services: An exploratory study

    • Sérgio P. Santos, Carla A. F. Amado

    Pages 173-190

13. A simulation-based decision support tool to analyze clinical pathways in hospital

    • Elena Tánfani, Angela Testi

    Pages 191-211

14. Patient mix optimisation for inpatient planning with multiple resources

    • Jan Vissers, Ivo Adan, Nico Dellaert, Jully Jeunet, Jos Bekkers

    Pages 213-236

The most difficult part of making decisions in the health care field on all levels (national, regional, institutional, patient) is linked to the very complexity of the system itself, to the intrinsic uncertainty involved and its dynamic nature. This requires not only the ability to analyze and interpret a large amount of information but also arrange it so that it becomes a cognitive base for appropriate decision-making. Moreover, decisions in the health care field are subjected to many challenges and constraints: fast change and uncertain outcomes, aging population, increasing citizen expectations, equity considerations and limited resources. Operations research, statistical and economic-related quantitative methods supply these decisions making tools and methodology. The contributed book presents a collection of applications to concrete situations detailing the problem area, the methodology employed, the implementation and results. Each topic addressed in the book will be structured in such a way that an interdisciplinary and wide audience will be able to use the materials presented. As an example the book chapters will address health policies issues, planning health services, epidemiology and disease modelling, home-care modelling, logistics in health care, capacity planning, quality and appropriateness.

• Decision support tools
• Economics
• Health care
• Operations Research and Management Science
• Quantitative methods

From the book reviews:

“This text is composed of 13 chapters that focus on applications of quantitative strategies in the area of health care research. … All the chapters are structured well and are consistent in style and presentation. Each paper begins with an abstract and ends with a list of references. … The book is transdisciplinary in nature; it will serve as a good reference to professionals and policy makers working in health care.” (S. E. Ahmed, Technometrics, Vol. 56 (1), January, 2014)

“This book is a collation of quantitative methodologies that focus on operational research, statistical and economic decision-making, and problems in the field of healthcare. The authors strive to deliver a book that collects extant issues in healthcare and focuses on practical problem-solving applications for these issues. The book meets this objective admirably. … the book is written for an interdisciplinary and wide audience. … This is a well-written and comprehensive book that would complement any healthcare manager’s (or evaluator’s) reference library.” (Eric P. Matthews, Doody’s Book Reviews, July, 2013)

• Department of Economics and Quantitative Methods (DIEM), University of Genova, Italy

  Elena Tànfani, Angela Testi

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