Media Coverage

Media articles featuring INFORMS members in the news.

Most Recent Media Coverage

Topic
Covid lockdowns were not necessarily a ‘net negative’

Covid lockdowns were not necessarily a ‘net negative’

The Washington Post, January 8, 2023

This book on men has a vital message and a model to follow,” Mitch Daniels’s Jan. 4 op-ed on the recent reissuance of the book, “Men Without Work: America’s Invisible Crisis,” was thoughtful. But he violated his own message of considering various perspectives without declaring certainty in his main example regarding the Great Barrington Declaration signers. His conclusion that “the condemnation they incurred was profoundly anti-intellectual and anti-scientific” was defensible, but his declaration that pandemic lockdown policies were unequivocally a “net negative” was not, as it was implicitly predicated on how objectives are weighted.

The end of free returns could be good for the environment

The end of free returns could be good for the environment

WRAL, January 6, 2023

Returns have been growing year over year, creating millions of pounds of waste and needless emissions from shipping. Major retailers are starting to charge for returns, which could have a positive impact on the environment.

Cherry-picking profitable patients: New research identifies unintended consequences for some Medicare patients

Cherry-picking profitable patients: New research identifies unintended consequences for some Medicare patients

Singapore Management University, January 6, 2023

A new research in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management finds that Medicare Advantage (MA), the largest healthcare capitation program in the U.S., unintentionally incentivises health plans to cherry-pick profitable patients from traditional Medicare (TM). The study, “Can Big Data Cure Risk Selection in Healthcare Capitation Program? A Game Theoretical Analysis,” shows that even if the current MA risk adjustment design became informationally perfect through increased availability of big data, incentives would continue to persist for risk selection, primarily because of the way the current risk adjustment model is designed. Co-author SMU Assistant Professor of Operations Management Zhaowei She said, “No generic risk adjustment algorithm can solve the strategic prediction problem in risk adjustment without explicitly taking into account the underlying mechanism in healthcare capitation programs.” The study calls for practitioners and policymakers to change their views of seeing risk adjustment as a pure statistical and machine learning problem and to look more comprehensively at the human impact.

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INFORMS
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Artificial Intelligence

Opinion: What to watch in the coming AI policy shake-up

Opinion: What to watch in the coming AI policy shake-up

Deseret News, January 18, 2025

Something remarkable is happening in Washington. Tech executives who once shunned the political spotlight now make regular pilgrimages to Capitol Hill, and artificial intelligence — a field that traces back to the 1950s — has become the talk of the town.

Healthcare

We all benefit from and are hurt by health insurance claim denials

We all benefit from and are hurt by health insurance claim denials

Atlanta Journal Constitution, January 23, 2025

Health insurance has become necessary, with large and unpredictable health care costs always looming before each of us. Unfortunately, the majority of people have experienced problems when using their health insurance to pay for their medical care. Health insurance serves as the buffer between patients and the medical care system, using population pooling to mitigate the risk exposure on any one individual.

Supply Chain

New Study Shows How Ukraine War Impacts Global Food Supply Chain, Urges Alternative Routes For Grains

New Study Shows How Ukraine War Impacts Global Food Supply Chain, Urges Alternative Routes For Grains

Where the Food Comes From, January 20, 2025

A groundbreaking new study in the INFORMS journal Transportation Science reveals the severe and far-reaching consequences of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on global food security. The research highlights an urgent need to address disruptions in the transportation of Ukrainian grains, which have caused dramatic price spikes and worsened food insecurity worldwide, particularly in vulnerable regions such as the Middle East and North Africa.

Port automation is a sticking point for dockworkers union

Port automation is a sticking point for dockworkers union

Marketplace, January 2, 2025

Dockworkers on the East and Gulf coasts could go on strike again in less than two weeks if they don’t reach a contract agreement with ports and shippers. Talks are set to resume next week, according to Bloomberg. The main sticking point between the two sides? Automation.

Climate