Introduction to Measurement and Analysis

In spite of all of the innovations and technical advances of the past half-century, healthcare in the USA is of “spotty” quality and has been characterized as “unsafe.” Methods developed in US industrial engineering, using operations research and analytic modeling, can be applied to healthcare to produce a transformation in how care is delivered by enhancing quality and safety. Rather than focusing on management and finance, an emphasis on quality and safety will LEAD to economic advances. However, implementation of such methods will require a cadre of motivated and prepared physicians to champion the efforts.