Unequal Treatment

Download Unequal Treatment PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030908265X
Total Pages : 781 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Unequal Treatment by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Unequal Treatment written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2009-02-06 with total page 781 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Racial and ethnic disparities in health care are known to reflect access to care and other issues that arise from differing socioeconomic conditions. There is, however, increasing evidence that even after such differences are accounted for, race and ethnicity remain significant predictors of the quality of health care received. In Unequal Treatment, a panel of experts documents this evidence and explores how persons of color experience the health care environment. The book examines how disparities in treatment may arise in health care systems and looks at aspects of the clinical encounter that may contribute to such disparities. Patients' and providers' attitudes, expectations, and behavior are analyzed. How to intervene? Unequal Treatment offers recommendations for improvements in medical care financing, allocation of care, availability of language translation, community-based care, and other arenas. The committee highlights the potential of cross-cultural education to improve provider-patient communication and offers a detailed look at how to integrate cross-cultural learning within the health professions. The book concludes with recommendations for data collection and research initiatives. Unequal Treatment will be vitally important to health care policymakers, administrators, providers, educators, and students as well as advocates for people of color.

Employment and Health Benefits

Download Employment and Health Benefits PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309048273
Total Pages : 381 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Employment and Health Benefits by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Employment and Health Benefits written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1993-02-01 with total page 381 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States is unique among economically advanced nations in its reliance on employers to provide health benefits voluntarily for workers and their families. Although it is well known that this system fails to reach millions of these individuals as well as others who have no connection to the work place, the system has other weaknesses. It also has many advantages. Because most proposals for health care reform assume some continued role for employers, this book makes an important contribution by describing the strength and limitations of the current system of employment-based health benefits. It provides the data and analysis needed to understand the historical, social, and economic dynamics that have shaped present-day arrangements and outlines what might be done to overcome some of the access, value, and equity problems associated with current employer, insurer, and government policies and practices. Health insurance terminology is often perplexing, and this volume defines essential concepts clearly and carefully. Using an array of primary sources, it provides a store of information on who is covered for what services at what costs, on how programs vary by employer size and industry, and on what governments doâ€"and do not doâ€"to oversee employment-based health programs. A case study adapted from real organizations' experiences illustrates some of the practical challenges in designing, managing, and revising benefit programs. The sometimes unintended and unwanted consequences of employer practices for workers and health care providers are explored. Understanding the concepts of risk, biased risk selection, and risk segmentation is fundamental to sound health care reform. This volume thoroughly examines these key concepts and how they complicate efforts to achieve efficiency and equity in health coverage and health care. With health care reform at the forefront of public attention, this volume will be important to policymakers and regulators, employee benefit managers and other executives, trade associations, and decisionmakers in the health insurance industry, as well as analysts, researchers, and students of health policy.

The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century

Download The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309133181
Total Pages : 536 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-02-01 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

The Healthcare Imperative

Download The Healthcare Imperative PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309144337
Total Pages : 852 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Healthcare Imperative by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book The Healthcare Imperative written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-01-17 with total page 852 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The United States has the highest per capita spending on health care of any industrialized nation but continually lags behind other nations in health care outcomes including life expectancy and infant mortality. National health expenditures are projected to exceed $2.5 trillion in 2009. Given healthcare's direct impact on the economy, there is a critical need to control health care spending. According to The Health Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes, the costs of health care have strained the federal budget, and negatively affected state governments, the private sector and individuals. Healthcare expenditures have restricted the ability of state and local governments to fund other priorities and have contributed to slowing growth in wages and jobs in the private sector. Moreover, the number of uninsured has risen from 45.7 million in 2007 to 46.3 million in 2008. The Health Imperative: Lowering Costs and Improving Outcomes identifies a number of factors driving expenditure growth including scientific uncertainty, perverse economic and practice incentives, system fragmentation, lack of patient involvement, and under-investment in population health. Experts discussed key levers for catalyzing transformation of the delivery system. A few included streamlined health insurance regulation, administrative simplification and clarification and quality and consistency in treatment. The book is an excellent guide for policymakers at all levels of government, as well as private sector healthcare workers.

Managed Competition

Download Managed Competition PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : DIANE Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9780788100260
Total Pages : 120 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Managed Competition by :

Download or read book Managed Competition written by and published by DIANE Publishing. This book was released on 1993-07 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Pamphlet from the vertical file.

Best Care at Lower Cost

Download Best Care at Lower Cost PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309282810
Total Pages : 437 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (92 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Best Care at Lower Cost by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Best Care at Lower Cost written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2013-05-10 with total page 437 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America's health care system has become too complex and costly to continue business as usual. Best Care at Lower Cost explains that inefficiencies, an overwhelming amount of data, and other economic and quality barriers hinder progress in improving health and threaten the nation's economic stability and global competitiveness. According to this report, the knowledge and tools exist to put the health system on the right course to achieve continuous improvement and better quality care at a lower cost. The costs of the system's current inefficiency underscore the urgent need for a systemwide transformation. About 30 percent of health spending in 2009-roughly $750 billion-was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems. Moreover, inefficiencies cause needless suffering. By one estimate, roughly 75,000 deaths might have been averted in 2005 if every state had delivered care at the quality level of the best performing state. This report states that the way health care providers currently train, practice, and learn new information cannot keep pace with the flood of research discoveries and technological advances. About 75 million Americans have more than one chronic condition, requiring coordination among multiple specialists and therapies, which can increase the potential for miscommunication, misdiagnosis, potentially conflicting interventions, and dangerous drug interactions. Best Care at Lower Cost emphasizes that a better use of data is a critical element of a continuously improving health system, such as mobile technologies and electronic health records that offer significant potential to capture and share health data better. In order for this to occur, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, IT developers, and standard-setting organizations should ensure that these systems are robust and interoperable. Clinicians and care organizations should fully adopt these technologies, and patients should be encouraged to use tools, such as personal health information portals, to actively engage in their care. This book is a call to action that will guide health care providers; administrators; caregivers; policy makers; health professionals; federal, state, and local government agencies; private and public health organizations; and educational institutions.

Health System Efficiency

Download Health System Efficiency PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Health Policy
ISBN 13 : 9789289050418
Total Pages : 264 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (54 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Health System Efficiency by : Jonathan Cylus

Download or read book Health System Efficiency written by Jonathan Cylus and published by Health Policy. This book was released on 2016-12-15 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book the authors explore the state of the art on efficiency measurement in health systems and international experts offer insights into the pitfalls and potential associated with various measurement techniques. The authors show that: - The core idea of efficiency is easy to understand in principle - maximizing valued outputs relative to inputs, but is often difficult to make operational in real-life situations - There have been numerous advances in data collection and availability, as well as innovative methodological approaches that give valuable insights into how efficiently health care is delivered - Our simple analytical framework can facilitate the development and interpretation of efficiency indicators.

Crossing the Global Quality Chasm

Download Crossing the Global Quality Chasm PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309477891
Total Pages : 399 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (94 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Crossing the Global Quality Chasm by : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine

Download or read book Crossing the Global Quality Chasm written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2019-01-27 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2015, building on the advances of the Millennium Development Goals, the United Nations adopted Sustainable Development Goals that include an explicit commitment to achieve universal health coverage by 2030. However, enormous gaps remain between what is achievable in human health and where global health stands today, and progress has been both incomplete and unevenly distributed. In order to meet this goal, a deliberate and comprehensive effort is needed to improve the quality of health care services globally. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm: Improving Health Care Worldwide focuses on one particular shortfall in health care affecting global populations: defects in the quality of care. This study reviews the available evidence on the quality of care worldwide and makes recommendations to improve health care quality globally while expanding access to preventive and therapeutic services, with a focus in low-resource areas. Crossing the Global Quality Chasm emphasizes the organization and delivery of safe and effective care at the patient/provider interface. This study explores issues of access to services and commodities, effectiveness, safety, efficiency, and equity. Focusing on front line service delivery that can directly impact health outcomes for individuals and populations, this book will be an essential guide for key stakeholders, governments, donors, health systems, and others involved in health care.

Controlling Costs and Changing Patient Care?

Download Controlling Costs and Changing Patient Care? PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309040485
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Controlling Costs and Changing Patient Care? by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Controlling Costs and Changing Patient Care? written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Utilization management (UM) has become a strong trend in health care cost containment. Under UM, some decisions are not strictly made by the doctor and patient alone. Instead, they are now checked by a reviewer reporting to an employer or other paying party who asks whether or not the proposed type or location of care is medically necessary or appropriate. This book presents current findings about how UM is faring in practice and how it compares with other cost containment approaches, with recommendations for improving UM program administration and clinical protocols and for conducting further research.

The Changing Economics of Medical Technology

Download The Changing Economics of Medical Technology PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030904491X
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Changing Economics of Medical Technology by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book The Changing Economics of Medical Technology written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1991-02-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Americans praise medical technology for saving lives and improving health. Yet, new technology is often cited as a key factor in skyrocketing medical costs. This volume, second in the Medical Innovation at the Crossroads series, examines how economic incentives for innovation are changing and what that means for the future of health care. Up-to-date with a wide variety of examples and case studies, this book explores how payment, patent, and regulatory policiesâ€"as well as the involvement of numerous government agenciesâ€"affect the introduction and use of new pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and surgical procedures. The volume also includes detailed comparisons of policies and patterns of technological innovation in Western Europe and Japan. This fact-filled and practical book will be of interest to economists, policymakers, health administrators, health care practitioners, and the concerned public.

America's Health Care Safety Net

Download America's Health Care Safety Net PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030906497X
Total Pages : 304 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis America's Health Care Safety Net by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book America's Health Care Safety Net written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-09-04 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America's Health Care Safety Net explains how competition and cost issues in today's health care marketplace are posing major challenges to continued access to care for America's poor and uninsured. At a time when policymakers and providers are urgently seeking guidance, the committee recommends concrete strategies for maintaining the viability of the safety netâ€"with innovative approaches to building public attention, developing better tools for tracking the problem, and designing effective interventions. This book examines the health care safety net from the perspectives of key providers and the populations they serve, including: Components of the safety netâ€"public hospitals, community clinics, local health departments, and federal and state programs. Mounting pressures on the systemâ€"rising numbers of uninsured patients, decline in Medicaid eligibility due to welfare reform, increasing health care access barriers for minority and immigrant populations, and more. Specific consequences for providers and their patients from the competitive, managed care environmentâ€"detailing the evolution and impact of Medicaid managed care. Key issues highlighted in four populationsâ€"children with special needs, people with serious mental illness, people with HIV/AIDS, and the homeless.

Guidelines for Clinical Practice

Download Guidelines for Clinical Practice PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309045894
Total Pages : 441 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Guidelines for Clinical Practice by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Guidelines for Clinical Practice written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 1992-02-01 with total page 441 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guidelines for the clinical practice of medicine have been proposed as the solution to the whole range of current health care problems. This new book presents the first balanced and highly practical view of guidelinesâ€"their strengths, their limitations, and how they can be used most effectively to benefit health care. The volume offers: Recommendations and a proposed framework for strengthening development and use of guidelines. Numerous examples of guidelines. A ready-to-use instrument for assessing the soundness of guidelines. Six case studies exploring issues involved when practitioners use guidelines on a daily basis. With a real-world outlook, the volume reviews efforts by agencies and organizations to disseminate guidelines and examines how well guidelines are functioningâ€"exploring issues such as patient information, liability, costs, computerization, and the adaptation of national guidelines to local needs.

Affordable Excellence

Download Affordable Excellence PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
ISBN 13 : 0815724160
Total Pages : 198 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (157 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Affordable Excellence by : William A. Haseltine

Download or read book Affordable Excellence written by William A. Haseltine and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2013 with total page 198 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Today Singapore ranks sixth in the world in healthcare outcomes well ahead of many developed countries, including the United States. The results are all the more significant as Singapore spends less on healthcare than any other high-income country, both as measured by fraction of the Gross Domestic Product spent on health and by costs per person. Singapore achieves these results at less than one-fourth the cost of healthcare in the United States and about half that of Western European countries. Government leaders, presidents and prime ministers, finance ministers and ministers of health, policymakers in congress and parliament, public health officials responsible for healthcare systems planning, finance and operations, as well as those working on healthcare issues in universities and think-tanks should know how this system works to achieve affordable excellence."--Publisher's website.

Leadership by Example

Download Leadership by Example PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309168880
Total Pages : 206 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Leadership by Example by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Leadership by Example written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-05-21 with total page 206 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The federal government operates six major health care programs that serve nearly 100 million Americans. Collectively, these programs significantly influence how health care is provided by the private sector. Leadership by Example explores how the federal government can leverage its unique position as regulator, purchaser, provider, and research sponsor to improve care - not only in these six programs but also throughout the nation's health care system. The book describes the federal programs and the populations they serve: Medicare (elderly), Medicaid (low income), SCHIP (children), VHA (veterans), TRICARE (individuals in the military and their dependents), and IHS (native Americans). It then examines the steps each program takes to assure and improve safety and quality of care. The Institute of Medicine proposes a national quality enhancement strategy focused on performance measurement of clinical quality and patient perceptions of care. The discussion on which this book focuses includes recommendations for developing and pilot-testing performance measures, creating an information infrastructure for comparing performance and disseminating results, and more. Leadership by Example also includes a proposed research agenda to support quality enhancement. The third in the series of books from the Quality of Health Care in America project, this well-targeted volume will be important to all readers of To Err Is Human and Crossing the Quality Chasm - as well as new readers interested in the federal government's role in health care.

Hidden Costs, Value Lost

Download Hidden Costs, Value Lost PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309133203
Total Pages : 212 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Hidden Costs, Value Lost by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Hidden Costs, Value Lost written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-06-19 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hidden Cost, Value Lost, the fifth of a series of six books on the consequences of uninsurance in the United States, illustrates some of the economic and social losses to the country of maintaining so many people without health insurance. The book explores the potential economic and societal benefits that could be realized if everyone had health insurance on a continuous basis, as people over age 65 currently do with Medicare. Hidden Costs, Value Lost concludes that the estimated benefits across society in health years of life gained by providing the uninsured with the kind and amount of health services that the insured use, are likely greater than the additional social costs of doing so. The potential economic value to be gained in better health outcomes from uninterrupted coverage for all Americans is estimated to be between $65 and $130 billion each year.

Ask a Manager

Download Ask a Manager PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Ballantine Books
ISBN 13 : 0399181822
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (991 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Ask a Manager by : Alison Green

Download or read book Ask a Manager written by Alison Green and published by Ballantine Books. This book was released on 2018-05-01 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the creator of the popular website Ask a Manager and New York’s work-advice columnist comes a witty, practical guide to 200 difficult professional conversations—featuring all-new advice! There’s a reason Alison Green has been called “the Dear Abby of the work world.” Ten years as a workplace-advice columnist have taught her that people avoid awkward conversations in the office because they simply don’t know what to say. Thankfully, Green does—and in this incredibly helpful book, she tackles the tough discussions you may need to have during your career. You’ll learn what to say when • coworkers push their work on you—then take credit for it • you accidentally trash-talk someone in an email then hit “reply all” • you’re being micromanaged—or not being managed at all • you catch a colleague in a lie • your boss seems unhappy with your work • your cubemate’s loud speakerphone is making you homicidal • you got drunk at the holiday party Praise for Ask a Manager “A must-read for anyone who works . . . [Alison Green’s] advice boils down to the idea that you should be professional (even when others are not) and that communicating in a straightforward manner with candor and kindness will get you far, no matter where you work.”—Booklist (starred review) “The author’s friendly, warm, no-nonsense writing is a pleasure to read, and her advice can be widely applied to relationships in all areas of readers’ lives. Ideal for anyone new to the job market or new to management, or anyone hoping to improve their work experience.”—Library Journal (starred review) “I am a huge fan of Alison Green’s Ask a Manager column. This book is even better. It teaches us how to deal with many of the most vexing big and little problems in our workplaces—and to do so with grace, confidence, and a sense of humor.”—Robert Sutton, Stanford professor and author of The No Asshole Rule and The Asshole Survival Guide “Ask a Manager is the ultimate playbook for navigating the traditional workforce in a diplomatic but firm way.”—Erin Lowry, author of Broke Millennial: Stop Scraping By and Get Your Financial Life Together

Analysis of Hospital Costs

Download Analysis of Hospital Costs PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : World Health Organization
ISBN 13 : 9789241545280
Total Pages : 106 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (452 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Analysis of Hospital Costs by : Donald S. Shepard

Download or read book Analysis of Hospital Costs written by Donald S. Shepard and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2000 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A practical guide to the principles and methods of cost analysis as a managerial tool for improving the efficiency of hospitals. Addressed to managers and administrators, the manual aims to equip its readers with the knowledge and skills needed to calculate the costs of different activities or departments, analyse their significance, and use this information to manage resources wisely. Throughout, recommendations and advice are specific to the different purposes of cost analysis and the different types of decisions commonly facing managers. The manual, which is intended for use as a training tool, was finalized following extensive field testing in workshops in Bangladesh, Egypt, and Zimbabwe. Methods of cost-finding and cost analysis are thoroughly explained and illustrated with practical examples and model step-by-step procedures for performing calculations. Since hospital accounting systems in developing countries may have gaps or inaccuracies, the manual gives particular attention to reliable methods for estimating costs when existing data are problematic. The manual opens with an explanation of the many advantages of using cost-finding and cost analysis as managerial tools. These include the provision of data needed for informed decisions on operations and infrastructure investment, the planning of future budgets, the establishment of charges for patient services, and the development of mechanisms for ensuring that costs do not exceed available revenues and subsidies. Against this background, the core of the manual is presented in three chapters. The first and most extensive chapter explains how to allocate costs to cost centres and how to compute unit costs. Information and examples are presented according to seven steps. Each is discussed in terms of the types of data needed, how component cost items should be treated, and how costs can be computed in particular situations or cases. Practical examples are used to illustrate the types of questions addressed in cost analysis and the value of this information in guiding decisions. Chapter two explains how cost data can be used to improve the management of an individual hospital. Information is intended to guide decisions at both the cost centre, or department, level and the hospital level. Managerial tasks covered include budgeting, profitability, efficiency improvements, contracting outside services or producing in-house, and assessing fiscal solvency. Chapter three considers the use of cost data in managing national and regional hospital systems. Specific applications include improvements in the referral system, the appropriate use of different providers of services, and the comparison of similar hospitals to identify inefficiencies or sources of waste. The manual concludes with a series of practical exercises, followed by explanations of their answers.