Speaker(s): Linda Green (Columbia)

Title: Providing Timely Access to Healthcare Facilities

Abstract

Timely access to care is a key component of high quality healthcare. The Institute of Medicine identified "timeliness" as 1 of the 6 key "aims for improvement" in its major report on quality of health care last year. Yet patient delays are prevalent throughout the healthcare system resulting in dissatisfaction and adverse clinical consequences for patients as well as higher costs and wasted capacity for providers.

This talk will describe several examples of OR models that have been developed to help healthcare administrators manage healthcare resources more cost-effectively and reduce patient delays for care. Applications will include physician staffing in emergency rooms, capacity management of diagnostic imaging facilities, and patient demand management in outpatient practices.

• Managing Patient Service in a Diagnostic Medical Facility
• Providing Timely Access to Medical Care: a Queueing Model
• Using Queuing Theory to Increasethe Effectiveness of EmergencyDepartment Provider Staffing