Healthcare

Rising costs, medical errors, and low quality in healthcare reflect problems with system organization. NECSI's healthcare systems research focuses on improving the structure of provider organizations: how to lower costs, improve preventative medicine, and enhance patient care—including dramatic reductions in medical errors.

NECSI research analyzes how healthcare costs and quality can be improved, from prevention to complex diagnosis.

Joseph Norman, Amir Akhavan, Chen Shen, David Aron, Luci Leykum, and Yaneer Bar-Yam, Toward prevention of adverse events using anticipatory analytics, Progress in Preventive Medicine (June 2020).

Chen Shen, Peggy J. Bowers, and Yaneer Bar-Yam, How much sodium should we eat?, Progress in Preventive Medicine 5(1): e0026 (February 2020).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Dynamic medicine, NECSI (2017).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Stopping hospital acquired infections using complex systems science, NECSI (2016).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Complex systems science and obesity, at Experimental Biology Symposium (San Diego, CA, 2014).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Shlomiya Bar-Yam, Karla Z. Bertrand, Nancy Cohen, Alexander S. Gard-Murray, Helen P. Harte, and Luci Leykum, A complex systems science approach to healthcare costs and quality, in Handbook of Systems and Complexity in Health (Springer, 2013), pp. 855-877.

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Dion Harmon, Keith Nesbitt, May Lim, Suzanne Smith, and Bradley A. Perkins, Opportunities in delivery of preventive services in retail settings, in Handbook of Systems and Complexity in Health (Springer, 2013), pp. 879-887.

Marcus A.M. De Aguiar, Andreas Gros, Yaneer Bar-Yam, Jose G. Venegas, and Tilo Winkler, What causes airway instability and ventilation defects during bronchoconstriction in asthma?, American Thoracic Society 2013 International Conference (May 17-22, 2013).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Healthcare costs: The roadmap, NECSI.

Alice Ware Davidson and Yaneer Bar-Yam, Environmental complexity: Information for human-environment well-being, in Unifying Themes in Complex Systems (Springer, 2006), pp. 157-168.

Meghan Dierks, Caprice Christian, Emilie Roth, Thomas Sheridan, Michael Gustafson, and Michael Zinner, DRAFT: Patient safety in complex medical settings: A prospective study in the operating room.

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Improving the effectiveness of health care and public health: A multi-scale complex systems analysis, American Journal of Public Health 96(3): 459-466 (2006).

Helene M. Langevin, Yaneer Bar-Yam, Donna Rizzo, and James R. Fox, Science meets Eastern medicine: Connective tissue, "qi" and network connectivity, at International Conference on Complex Systems (2006).

Alice Davidson, Martin H. Teicher, Yaneer Bar-Yam, The role of environmental complexity in the well being of the elderly, Complexity and Chaos in Nursing 3: 5-12 (1997).

NECSI researchers apply multiscale analysis to identifying and eliminating sources of medical error.

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Making Things Work: Solving complex problems in a complex world, Chapter 11 (Knowledge Press, 2005).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, System care: Multiscale analysis of medical errors—Eliminating errors and improving organizational capabilities, NECSI Technical Report 2004-09-01(2004).

Mark Smith, Amnon Wachman, and Stefan Topolski, NECSI prescription form to help prevent medical errors and improve communication within the healthcare system, NECSI (2010).

Yaneer Bar-Yam and Meghan Dierks, Crisis in medical care: Spotlight Children's Hospital Boston, NECSI Technical Report 2003-10-01 (2003).

The public health system, NECSI research suggests, can be organized better to promote everything from efficiency to infection control.

Luci Leykum and Yaneer Bar-Yam, The rationale for system-level strategies of infection control, NECSI Report 2010-08 (2009).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Executive summary: Multiscale analysis of care facility infection control and policy interventions, Reported to Denise Cardo, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (March 3, 2008).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Making Things Work: Solving complex problems in a complex world, Chapter 10 (Knowledge Press, 2005).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Multiscale analysis of the healthcare and public health system: Organizing for achieving both effectiveness and efficiency, NECSI Technical Report 2004-07-01 (2004).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, DRAFT: Understanding the healthcare / medical system crisis, NECSI Technical Report 2003-06-01 (2003).

Mark Smith and Craig Feied, DRAFT: The emergency department as a complex system, George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences (1999).

Mark Smith and Craig Feied, Design of an emergency department process, Washington Hospital.

In the era of global connectivity, it is easier than ever for epidemics to spiral into pandemics. NECSI analysis shows how best to contain them.

Yaneer Bar-Yam, H. Frederik Nijhout, Raphael Parens, Felipe Costa, and Alfredo J. Morales, The case for pyriproxyfen as a potential cause of microcephaly; from biology to epidemiology, arXiv:1703.03765 (2017).

Raphael Parens, H. Frederik Nijhout, Alfredo Morales, Felipe Xavier Costa, and Yaneer Bar-Yam, A possible link between pyriproxyfen and microcephaly, PLOS Currents Outbreaks (November 27, 2017).

Raphael Parens and Y. Bar-Yam, Zika and other potential causes of microcephaly in Brazil: Status March 8, 2016, NECSI (2016).

Yaneer Bar-Yam and Rebecca Menapace, DRAFT Zika virus community response, NECSI (February 5, 2016).

Daniel Cooney, Vincent Wong, and Yaneer Bar-Yam, Beyond contact tracing: Community-based early detection for Ebola response, PLoS Currents Outbreaks (May 19, 2016).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Risking it all: Why are public health authorities not concerned about Ebola in the US? Part I. Fat tailed distributions, arXiv:1411.1472 (November 6, 2014).

Kia Hall and Yaneer Bar-Yam, The potential for increase in global Ebola transmission during end of year Liberian holiday travel, NECSI (October 2014).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Is the response in Liberia succeeding? Positive indications, NECSI (October 17, 2014).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Stopping Ebola globally and in West Africa, NECSI Report 2014-10-01 (October 15, 2014).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, Response to CDC Director Frieden’s opposition to a travel ban, NECSI (October 13, 2014).

Yaneer Bar-Yam, DRAFT New Ebola response strategy: Local care team early detection response, NECSI (October 12, 2014).

Matthew Hardcastle and Yaneer Bar-Yam, The threat of Ebola in the West, NECSI Report 2014-09-02 (2014).

Matthew Hardcastle and Yaneer Bar-Yam, Effective Ebola response: A multiscale approach, NECSI Report 2014-09-01 (September 19, 2014).