Problems with the U.S. health care system are costing Americans an estimated $2.3 trillion annually, a figure that continues to increase at almost double the rate of inflation. An estimated 30% of these costs can be attributed to poor processes, errors, and waste. Estimates of medical errors include 1.4 million affected patients, 98,000 deaths, and costs of $8.8 billion annually. With its long history in health care and recent renaissance in academia, the field of industrial and systems engineering has much to offer health care organizations as they strive to address these problems. This session will cover the history of systems engineering and seminal work in the field, the present state of health care systems engineering and current modeling trends, and important future directions for this important approach to reducing health care costs. This session will enable you to:

● Discuss strategies for increasing the effect of systems engineering on health care system inefficiencies.
● Compare and contrast the design metrics used on health care projects to help reduce errors and waste and improve poor processes.
● List three innovative strategies for using systems engineering to improve patient safety.
● Explain how industrial and systems engineering performance data can be used to affect patient outcomes.