In the 1960s, operations management was seen as a rather mundane, unimportant topic as it was believed that America had solved its production problems. Japanese and European companies shattered these myths by their relentless competitive challenge based largely on excellence in production management. Lessons learned by US manufacturers were not lost on the service sector, for whom these same lessons were quite applicable.

In particular, health care organizations perpetually search for operational improvements that allow them to expand service or improve margins. Thus, operations management has emerged as a core competency for health care managers. Academic programs typically require the course, either sending students to the business school or offering the course within the health program.

This book examines and explores the application of operations management in the framework of health care organizations. It is intended to provide managers of health services providers with simple and practical tools to identify bottlenecks and constraints, manage those tools, and better utilize them. By focusing on issues and processes that are common or of concern in health care, the book gets right to the point of the issues faced by managers in this field, and provides the exact tools necessary to deal with those issues. These tools help to significantly reduce response times, reduce waiting times, increase throughput, improve quality and increase customer satisfaction, without increasing the use of physical, human, and financial resources. The authors have extensive proven experience, through research and application, in successfully applying the tools and methods to many organizations worldwide.