Better Healthcare Through Math: Bending The Access And Cost Curves

by Sanjeev Agrawal, Mohan Giridharadas

GETTING A DOCTOR’S APPOINTMENT SHOULDN’T BE HARDER THAN BOOKING A VACATION The US healthcare system excels in research, innovation, and clinical care, but is failing to keep up with the operational challenges of the digital age. Today’s healthcare organizations face immense financial challenges, and their most valuable resources―people, rooms, and equipment―are being used inefficiently. The result? Long wait times for patients, overstressed staff, underused assets, and poor ROI for organizations. Why do health systems struggle with optimization? The fundamental problem is one of matching an unpredictable demand for services with a constrained supply. The math being used to solve this problem is a holdover from the paper-and-pencil era. In Better Healthcare Through Math, authors Mohan Giridharadas and Sanjeev Agrawal show you that there is a better way. Healthcare systems can harness the power of sophisticated, analytics-driven mathematics to optimize the matching of supply and demand. By upgrading to software systems built on better math, they can enable staff to make data-based decisions to flatten peaks of demand and create smoother patient flow.

Genres: Business

210 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 22, 2020

Reviews

[Pallav Sharda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most books on healthcare usually end up describing various problems and their history, context. Not often do I come across a book that talks about *how to solve* something in healthcare. This is one of those books.

Read it if you are interested in the operational aspects of healthcare (eg. on-ground clinical workflow, logistics, supply/demand dynamics on frontlines) and how technology can help make it better.

I also like that the author's focus on OPTIMIZING operations rather than the usual (hyperbolic) DISRUPT manisfesto that shows up in most other books. This is a practical book for healthcare leaders who are genuinely looking at algorithmic approaches to increase efficiencies in care delivery.

[Will Knechtle · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 stars — Students and entrepreneurs/investors new to Health Delivery Organization:
If you're early in your journey, this is a concise, high-yield primer.

4 stars — Policy makers, payers, and HDO leaders
Especially helpful for leaders trained in medicine or strategy rather than operations. Strong framing, crisp examples, and a useful conceptual reset on capacity, demand, and service design.

3 stars — Operational leaders
You should know most of this already. The book could easily be titled Better Healthcare Through Understanding Supply and Demand. Still, it’s well-written and offers a welcome lift out of the weeds.

Recommended: the foreword, preface, Part I, and Chapter 9.

Favorite idea: “Develop a fingerprint for each provider”—a smart way to operationalize variation.


2 stars — Data scientists
Not much math here. (Did you really expect them to risk giving away their IP?)
If you want to understand supply–demand dynamics across service lines, honestly: use AI and teach yourself. Kaboom.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-thought Path for Improving US Healthcare

I enjoyed this book immensely. Mohan and Sanjeev describe the current hospital enivornment from a patient-flow perspective, and map out a plan for it’s improvement. Their description of the problem makes us wonder why the tools that other successful industries have adopted haven’t made their way into healthcare. They share why, with the positive note that it is possible through advanced algorithms.

[Miranda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess they gave a disclaimer about this at the beginning, but there is no math within this book. I was looking for concrete examples (or even a single example) of the kind of optimization algorithms they rave about.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was drawn by the word math. It deals with economics and suggests that there are mathematics behind the solutions that are too complex to explain. In general, easy to read, but left me wanting.

[WilmerCanRead · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was gifted this at a conference. Didn’t read the whole thing but was able to take some aspects relating to my work and apply them into some real life scenarios with my group.