Dear INFORMS Community:
We are pleased to announce the first version of a new textbook, Healthcare Engineering, Analytics, and Decision Sciences: An Introduction. The co-authors are https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/research-faculty/directory/profiles/mehrotra-sanjay.html. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="Verified" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mccormick.northwestern.edu%2Fresearch-faculty%2Fdirectory%2Fprofiles%2Fmehrotra-sanjay.html&data=05%7C02%7Chbalasub%40admin.umass.edu%7C030f6305e7fa4aab0b9008dd1bc0c518%7C7bd08b0b33954dc194bbd0b2e56a497f%7C0%7C0%7C638697236943111885%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=UVpHcjBRFPHE2RazKvp37KTluKpgovljFmCRDEdpBN8%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="0">Sanjay Mehrotra PhD (Professor, Northwestern University), https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sites.uci.edu/kevinb3/__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKhI7sHzsQ$. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="Verified" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2Fsites.uci.edu%2Fkevinb3%2F__%3B!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKhI7sHzsQ%24&data=05%7C02%7Chbalasub%40admin.umass.edu%7C030f6305e7fa4aab0b9008dd1bc0c518%7C7bd08b0b33954dc194bbd0b2e56a497f%7C0%7C0%7C638697236943134835%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zl%2F2MBgo5dOWSlUAjdXCdkUZXlnZfajvBYyIkseu0Ls%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="1">Kevin Bui, PhD (University of California, Irvine), and https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/websites.umass.edu/hbalasub/academic-and-personal-website/__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKiJijU_wA$. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="Verified" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2Fwebsites.umass.edu%2Fhbalasub%2Facademic-and-personal-website%2F__%3B!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKiJijU_wA%24&data=05%7C02%7Chbalasub%40admin.umass.edu%7C030f6305e7fa4aab0b9008dd1bc0c518%7C7bd08b0b33954dc194bbd0b2e56a497f%7C0%7C0%7C638697236943149427%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=w%2F1IS%2B6iFiiKW5lpV3pwLkO4ogORakYgIkcwKrsarRQ%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="2">Hari Balasubramanian, PhD (Professor, University of Massachusetts, Amherst).
While the material in the book is copyrighted (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-linkindex="3">CC BY-NC-ND), the pdf of the book and individual chapters can be downloaded for free by instructors and students at the following website:
https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/sites.google.com/view/healthcareengineering/__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKgplrDQyg$. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="Verified" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2Fsites.google.com%2Fview%2Fhealthcareengineering%2F__%3B!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKgplrDQyg%24&data=05%7C02%7Chbalasub%40admin.umass.edu%7C030f6305e7fa4aab0b9008dd1bc0c518%7C7bd08b0b33954dc194bbd0b2e56a497f%7C0%7C0%7C638697236943176191%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=dbnBx5QYZi5J6CyzDh%2FqZOCdXmFuXRhG1IM8luuxs6E%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="4">https://sites.google.com/view/healthcareengineering/
The text is suited for students (undergraduate or Masters) who have taken introductory courses in probability, basics of calculus, and linear algebra. Depending on the chapters used from the book, the developed courses can be introductory (e.g., Junior level) or more advanced (Senior/Masters level). Each chapter uses examples from relevant healthcare contexts to illustrate concepts. Each chapter also contains a Computational Lab section, which introduces relevant software tools. Exercises at the end of each chapter needing data files are linked in the PDF and can be downloaded. The R Scripts and other modeling languages (e.g., AMPL, Gurobi-Python) used in the chapters can be downloaded https://urldefense.com/v3/__https:/drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Ywrh_nEyvx5bMJ3JIurEkGDFQJI4YB-J?usp=sharing__;!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKhTN-e4kg$. Click or tap if you trust this link." data-auth="Verified" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Furldefense.com%2Fv3%2F__https%3A%2Fdrive.google.com%2Fdrive%2Ffolders%2F1Ywrh_nEyvx5bMJ3JIurEkGDFQJI4YB-J%3Fusp%3Dsharing__%3B!!Dq0X2DkFhyF93HkjWTBQKhk!RwxNu509BLiVnl6cWbSduGuJQEmmo9ImptDJc6kRxs_jqf8Ce2n917N2cSPPYzyjJJHjhYXqpWS6KctTEsktTKhTN-e4kg%24&data=05%7C02%7Chbalasub%40admin.umass.edu%7C030f6305e7fa4aab0b9008dd1bc0c518%7C7bd08b0b33954dc194bbd0b2e56a497f%7C0%7C0%7C638697236943190098%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=zcVG4AeciDZ0njRVCVX%2BPWwUr%2BhbDtF7YN%2FYvJkZG1o%3D&reserved=0" data-linkindex="5">here.
We are aware that the current version of the book is not "perfect", but it is a humble start in the direction of making a difference to improve health systems globally through student education and training. Given the breadth of topics covered in the book, book chapters are written succinctly to include the concepts that are most important at the introductory level. Efforts have been made to balance practicality with methodological rigor. Several of these chapters can develop into their own courses. For example, optimization in healthcare can be a course in itself. The same can be said of data analytics, decision analysis, Markov chain, Queuing, and Simulation chapters. We have also provided an appendix that contains introductory material on probability and optimization. We are planning to publish physical copies of this book in two parts -- one focused on analytics and the other focused on operations research/decision science methods
We welcome feedback about content including comments on specific chapters, typographical errors, errors in notation, and suggestions for improvement. All feedback and questions can be emailed to HealthcareEngineering2024@gmail.com. We expect to update the textbook periodically as we receive feedback.
Sanjay Mehrotra (mehrotra@northwestern.edu)
Kevin Bui (kbui1993@gmail.com)
Hari Balasubramanian (hbalasub@admin.umass.edu)
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Hari Balasubramanian
Professor of Industrial Engineering
Mechanical and Industrial Engineering
University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Amherst MA
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