Introduction: Applications of management science and operations research models and methods to problems in health care

Abstract

Over the last decade or so, the health-care industry in the United States, Canada, and around the world has started to solve important problems using traditional management science and operations research (MS/OR) models and methods, such as mathematical programming, simulation, queueing theory, and decision analysis. In recent years, the results of modeling efforts have been significant and have begun to positively affect the delivery of health care. This special issue documents eight successful applications of MS/OR methods to solving actual problems in health care. © 2009 INFORMS.