What the Coronavirus Crisis Reveals About American Medicine
Medicine is a system for delivering care and support; it’s also a system of information, quality control, and lab science. All need fixing.
The INFORMS Analytics+ Conference showcased how companies are turning advanced analytics and AI into measurable operational results
In most emergency departments, beds are a hot commodity. But some patients don’t actually need a bed for their treatment – and accurately identifying those people is a low-lift but effective way to increase efficiency without sacrificing care quality, finds a study recently published in the journal Management Science.
The researchers developed a simple decision tree, informed by mathematical and machine learning models, to help staff decide whether a patient truly needs a bed or can be routed to a “vertical processing pathway” – that is, an area where they can be treated sitting up. Many hospitals already have such an area but don’t necessarily have a systematic way to decide which patients are treated there.
American teenagers start their school day too early.
Medical experts have been clear for years: sleep cycle changes during puberty make it hard for teenagers to learn in the early morning. Later school start times have been linked to better sleep, improved mental health, stronger academic performance and even safer driving.
Most school district leaders know about this problem and care about fixing it. But changing the schedule can feel operationally impossible.
An audio journey of how data and analytics save lives, save money and solve problems.

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Medicine is a system for delivering care and support; it’s also a system of information, quality control, and lab science. All need fixing.
When Haven Greyson Smith was born at 25 weeks on New Year’s Day in 2019, he weighed 410 grams. At less than a pound, he was the size of a soda can.
Researchers from New York University, Cornell, and Tel Aviv show how inventors discover unusual breakthroughs
Dozens of Transportation Security Administration Officers (TSOs) have tested positive for the coronavirus, creating a two-way transmission highway between screeners and passengers, further spreading the virus. This has occurred while the number of air travelers has dropped by more than 95 percent since early March.
The study found that cost transparency among firms could improve sales by up to 20 percent when done so voluntarily.

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