Healthcare Simulations Inc

Product Descriptions

Healthcare is facing unprecedented challenges, from new treatments and medical procedures resulting in increased demand, increased costs, and yet a finite amount of resources in which to respond. Every hospital and healthcare region across Canada and the United States is facing the same dilemma of how to "do more with less". Effective planning and operations management with a concentration on improving efficiency and utilization is one of the ways that hospitals and health regions can respond to the demands being place on them.

However, even though Planning and Operations Management software is used throughout other industries, healthcare is lacking behind in this area. One of the main difficulties of healthcare is its complex nature. Patient flow is not linear and to date has not been predictable throughout an entire hospital. An example of this complexity can be seen in the "Patient Flow" diagram below, which depicts an actual hospital's patient flow. The boxes on the outside represent wards from which patients are transferred between through the arrows in the center of the diagram.

Due to this complexity it is extremely difficult for healthcare administrators to actively manage their healthcare environments. In terms of Operations Management, healthcare has yet to realize the benefits of real-time reporting and administrative decision support, answering such questions as "who is in my hospital?", "what kind of patients are they?", and "what resources will they require?. The available healthcare information technology systems are often unable to answer these questions and healthcare facilities continue to operate with patient placement methodologies that have been in place for the last 20 years.

The HealthSim Suite of products addresses the complexity of managing patient flow by utilizing existing standardized health care operational data (HL7, ICD9/10, DRG/CMG) to automatically develop a realistic site-specific predictive model of the entire healthcare facility being investigated. The HealthSim Suite consists of the following solutions:

Hospital Dashboard
The Hospital Dashboard component is an entry-level way for healthcare facilities to start improving patient flow through utilizing the dashboard concept. By having each ward several times a day enter a small number of questions pertaining to the current environment in the ward (excess capacity, staffing, etc) the healthcare facility is able to red light, green light wards by utilizing methodologies developed by organizations concentrated on improving patient care and patient flow.

Historical - Patient Flow Data Analysis
The Historical component of the HealthSim suite is based on the ability to understand how patient flow has traditionally occurred in the healthcare facility. Data Analysis and Visualization Tools were specifically created for addressing patient flow. The user with these custom tools has the ability to understand how patients flow through their organization like no other available software systems currently available, allowing them to report of flow, address variation, perform metrics and support Quality Improvement products related to patient flow.

Current - Real-Time Information
The Current component of the HealthSim Suite is based on the ability to monitor in real-time how patient flow is occurring in the healthcare facility. An add-on for the facilities existing patient placement (ADT) system, the HealthSim current component shows visually various ways to view the complexity of the patient placement process in the facility. Through Executive Dashboards with dials designed to display multiple levels of information, to SCADA type displays showing the current state of the healthcare facility. In addition, predictive technology is applied to determine where a patient is most likely going to be transferred next. Allowing the healthcare facility to better manage patient flow compared to reacting to it.

Future - Predictive Scenerios
Coming Soon... The Futures Component of the HealthSim suite is based on the ability to create hospital-wide predictive scenarios to answer planning questions such as "what is the impact of a new medical procedure on the healthcare facility?", "how will an aging population affect the hospital?", "what is the impact on the entire healthcare facility if a change is made in one ward?", and "how do we get more patients through an already strained and complex healthcare facility?". These are the kind of questions that healthcare administrators are being asked every day in order to improve the efficiency and utilization of their existing healthcare environment.

Technology - Industry Standards
The strength of the HealthSim is that it is built on industry standards and readily integrates with the healthcare facilities exisiting Information Technology infrastructure. Compatiable with all existing Health Information standards including HL7, ICD9/10, DRG/CMG and developed with standard web-based technology such as Java and Oracle allows the healthcare facility to concentrate on improving patient care and the efficiency of the healthcare facility.

For further information please contact us.