Patent ID: 7480629
Filing Date: 2009-01-20
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A method of assessing patient flow through care units of a hospital using a computer having a microprocessor comprising: electronically collecting a set of hospital data for each care unit of a hospital, the set of hospital data including; a set of hospital statistics, wherein the set of hospital statistics includes inventory of beds and monitored beds, average occupancy of each unit average patient length of stay, number of health care personnel, health care personnel to patient ratio, patient acuity range patient transports, admission sources and frequency, and discharge sources and frequency and a set of hospital macro data, wherein the set of hospital macro data includes average e number of admissions, source of admissions frequency of admittance, average number of discharges, frequency of discharge, average overall stay in hospital average number of emergency department visits and percentage visits and percentage admitted, average occupancy and length of stay and average cost per admission; electronically assigning an hourly cost to each care unit per patient including costs associated with doctor time, nurse time staffing drugs, IV and equipment based upon the set of collected hospital data: electronically building a model based upon the collected set of hospital data and the assigned hourly cost for each care patient wherein building a model includes building a multi-level model of the hospital care units, describing each unit in terms of numbers of monitored beds and other resources and average length of stay, and further describing each care unit by the percentage of patients going to other care units; simulating the flow of patients through the hospital using the model, wherein the simulating step utilizes the collected set of hospital data for each care unit per patient by at an admission start, describing the number of patients to be admitted per unit time and the length of time to run the model; and changes recommending hospital resource changes using the model and the results of the simulating step.