SIMIOHealthcare Simulation Software

A well tested projection that was based upon the actual healthcare operations with forecasted volume analysis. Created to model future state scenarios in order to compare and identify situations in which variation had the greatest impact on operations and facility planning.

This simulation was Simio’s solutions for the healthcare industry cover hospitals, healthcare institutions and regional healthcare systems.

Nebraska Medical Center

The Nebraska Medical center saw an opportunity during the programming phase of their future comprehensive cancer center to rethink the surgery platform campus-wide.

The goal of the project was to determine the optimal future location(s) for specific patient populations based on prioritized operational goals. Given the complexity and variation within the system, discrete event simulation was deemed as the best tool for this analysis.

Result: A well tested projection that was based upon the actual operations (including variation) of The Nebraska Medical Center as well as the forecasted volumes analysis.

Functions:

Healthcare design for high effectiveness–Determine the best layout for

your new healthcare with respect to service, quality, and cost.

Rationalize facilities in a regional hospital system–Simulate a healthcare that is

suited for your desired location. Considering different elements such as population and number of possible patients.

Reducing waiting times in the emergency departments– Enables you to create a design that

will reduce waiting time for more effective service.

Efficient design for clinics– Create a healthcare design based on

your own service level target.Process improvement.–Helps you create a healthcare design

that is suited for different situations and population.

This modeling solution answers the key questions such as:

What is the best layout for my new outpatient clinic with respect to service, quality and cost?– Create a healthcare layout that will

give the best service and quality with the lowest cost possible.

What is the impact of implementing a new process?–Determine the effects of adding new

processes in the system. Implementing a new process can slow down or improve service.

What is the impact of different patient mixes and volumes?– Shows how different number of patients

will affect the healthcare’s services.What is the impact of staffing on

meeting my service level targets?–Determines how many workers are

needed for your healthcare.How should my facilities evolve to

meet changing demographics?– Possible changes that you can apply to

your healthcare that would able to accompany the changing number of populations/patients.

1) Increased operating room utilization during staffed peak hours.

2) Decreased operating room utilization during non-peak hours.

3) Increased utilization of equipment specific rooms (resulting in a need for fewer total operating rooms)

4) Reduced surgeon travel distances and frequency.

5) Reduced patient travel distances.6) Reduced turnover times by services by

patient type.

Six identified opportunities for improvement/outcomes:

IMPORTANCE:Simulates a system where it is too

expensive or risky to do live tests. – Simulation provides an inexpensive, risk-free

way to test changes ranging from a "simple" revision to an existing production line to emulation of a new control system or redesign of an entire supply chain.

Simulates a large or complex system for which change is being considered. – A "best guess" is usually a poor substitute for an

objective analysis. Simulation can accurately predict their behavior under changed conditions and reduce the risk of making a poor decision.

Provides process variability.– A spreadsheet analysis cannot capture the

dynamic aspects of a system, aspects which can have a major impact on system performance. Simulation can help you understand how various components interact with each other and how they affect overall system performance.

Provides complete data. – Simulation cannot invent data where it does not

exist, but simulation does well at determining sensitivity to unknowns. A high-level model can help you explore alternatives. A more detailed model can help you identify the most important missing data.

Able to communicate ideas. – Development of a simulation helps participants

better understand the system. Modern 3D animation and other tools promote communication and understanding across a wide audience.