U.S.HEALTHCARE EXPENDITURES, at $2 trillion in 2005 and 16.2 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, are projected to reach $4 trillion in 2015 and 20 percent of GDP. Approximately 31 percent of health care costs are administrative, 35 percent are elderly consumed, 75 percent relate to chronic disease management and 25 percent relate to spending linked to risky behaviors. These expenditures are expected to continue to be nearly evenly split between public funding and private funding. Thus, health care’s impact on the economy is substantial in relation to public spending, private funding and U.S. competitiveness in the international economy.
Volume 37, Number 3, June 2010
FEATURE ARTICLES
DEPARTMENTS 
Inside Story
Intel under fire
Can enhanced analytics, including operations research, help win the war in Afghanistan?
President's Desk
Inspired by Practice Conference
Among the most excellent rewards I have received from serving as president of INFORMS is my participation in and very hearty welcome to the 2010 INFORMS Practice Conference. I have attended more than 30 INFORMS annual conferences but the practice conference is still relatively new for me. The 2010 Practice Conference was an outstanding experience for me and I believe for all who are enthusiastic about operations research in action. In practically every session and at each event, I was reminded why I thought choosing this profession was such a good idea in the first place.
Issues in Education
How to be the best teacher ever
OK, we’re not going to lie. This isn’t your traditional “Issues in Education” article. As you may or may not have noticed, every June this column turns into an advertisement for the Teaching Effectiveness Colloquium, which is held just prior to the INFORMS Annual Meeting in November. This article will be no different. We want to tell you about TEC 2010.
Journal Highlights
Model helps Deere save big bucks
There may very well be a new incentive model for consulting groups that collaborate with large corporations: the more you save your client, the more you earn.
INFORMS in the News
Geeks do good; warm and fuzzy; math into cash
The INFORMS archive of podcasts continues to offer provocative conversation with leading O.R. practitioners and thinkers. It includes recent interviews about fighting cancer with Georgia Tech’s Eva K. Lee (see page 20) and new forecasting methods with Warren Lieberman, the INFORMS vice president for IT. Visit www.scienceofbetter.org and www.informs.org to download the latest selections.
Forum
Let’s jump on the ‘analytics’ bandwagon
“Analytics” is the latest hot topic – or buzzword, perhaps – in management. Tom Davenport’s 2007 book, “Competing on Analytics,”made it fashionable to seek quantitative methods to support better decisions. SAS Institute repositioned itself, aiming to be seen as “the world leader in business analytics” rather than as a major provider of quantitative, especially statistical, software. About a year and a half ago, IBM established a “Business Analytics and Optimization”practice area, which it has been marketing vigorously. INFORMS has enjoyed considerable response to its new on-line news magazine, titled – what else? – Analytics.
PuzzlOR
SurvivOR
Getting lost while hiking in the wilderness is a dangerous situation to find yourself in. And making your way back to civilization is a difficult task that quickly uses up resources.What you decide to take with you while making the journey back to civilization can determine life or death.
Industry News
Gurobi announces Gurobi Optimizer 3.0
Gurobi Optimization recently announced the release of Gurobi Optimizer 3.0, cutting the time to solve the toughest scheduling and resource allocation problems. Focused on problems that were previously slow or impossible to solve, Gurobi Optimizer 3.0 includes new,innovative math programming techniques.
ORacle
The security officer’s parable
The May weather was perfect, and the 20 people on the deck behind the OR/MS analyst’s house were enjoying the party. In one corner, however, the conversation had turned a little tense. Pete, a political scientist, had asked,“So what do you all think of this new law Arizona passed against illegal immigration? Do you believe Los Angeles will actually boycott Arizona, or that Arizona will retaliate by stopping sales of electricity to L.A.?”
INFORMS News
INFORMS ONLINE (IOL) EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Nominations are now being accepted for INFORMS Online editor-in-chief
UNDERGRADUATE OPERATIONS RESEARCH PRIZE
The INFORMS Board recently approved a new Undergraduate Operations Research Prize. The purpose of the prize is to honor a student or group of students who have conducted a significant applied project and/or original and important theoretical or applied research in operations research or management science, broadly defined, while enrolled as an undergraduate student. This could be research conducted as part of a course, research assistantship, independent study project, internship or senior thesis.
INFORMS IMPACT PRIZE
Citi Field, the new stadium for New York Mets, opened in March last year, and baseball fans visiting the rotunda can now read from its interior wall an inscription dedicated to Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in Major League Baseball:“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
INFORMS ELECTIONS
The INFORMS Nominating Committee has provided the following slate of nominees to the INFORMS Board for elections to be held Aug. 1-Sept.30, 2010, for offices beginning Jan. 1, 2011. Make your vote count. Go to www.informs.org for more information.
2010 INFORMS COMBINED COLLOQUIA
The 2010 INFORMS Combined Colloquia will be held Nov. 5-6, the Friday and Saturday preceding the INFORMS Annual Meeting in Austin, Texas. The Combined Colloquia will feature the: