Leaving a Mark on Healthcare Delivery with Operations Analysis

摘要

Identifying capacity needs is not only a strategic exercise for health policy makers. As discussed, there is also a need to understand how operational and tactical decisions influence capacity requirements over the short term, especially in adjacent departments. Successful applications of operations analysis to predict capacity needs based on operation and tactical decisions can lead to better utilization of existing capacity and hence an overall decrease in capacity needs. At the same time, understanding the long-term capacity needs of new patients (as in the panel size project) is crucial for designing services that are sustainable over time. From every new patient that arrives, there is at least some indication about his or her future capacity needs; using this information can improve planning and lead to more informed capacity-allocation decisions.