Hospital Operations: Principles of High Efficiency Health Care

By one estimate, the U.S. wastes $480 billion annually on healthcare expenditures that don't improve care. Worse, because of faulty systems -- not personnel -- up to 98,000 people die every year due to preventable medical errors -- and that doesn't count non-terminal events such as hospital-acquired infections. In Hospital Operations, two leading operations management experts and four senior physicians demonstrate how to apply new OM advances and metrics to substantially improve any hospital's operational, clinical, and financial performance. Replete with examples, Hospital Operations shows how to diagram and optimize hospital flows and trace interconnections, and offers specific guidance on improving emergency departments, operating rooms, hospital floors, and diagnostic units; and successfully applying metrics. Coverage includes:

The authors conclude by previewing the "Hospital of the Future," addressing issues ranging from prevention and self-care to the evolution of technology and evidence-based medicine.