ProModel Online Newsletter

Healthcare

In the upcoming months, we will be hosting a number of webinars on the following topics:

Analytics for ED Process Analysis and the use of ED Simulator™
Thursday December 1, 2005 at 3 PM ET

Planning for the future requires an understanding of current and past. A key starting point for a current state assessment is data: process data, key performance metrics, staffing data, patient arrival/mix data, patient care milestones, etc. There are many challenges associated with obtaining the necessary data and we will briefly touch on our experience and strategies for addressing these challenges.

Events

• SHS, February 10-12, 2006
San Diego, CA

In ED process improvement, the management engineer, ED manager, etc., will be faced with the task of analyzing or mining the data for insights. Excel, MiniTab, SPSS, and other applications are available for this purpose. During this webinar, ProModel will share its data analysis methodologies and demonstrate the use of its Data Analyzer™ (an add-on to BestFit™ from Palisade Corp.) to extract valuable information from data. Whether or not one chooses to also use simulation to model uncertainty to help predict future performance, a current state assessment of data is an extremely valuable first step.

Additionally, in this webinar, you’ll see specific examples of how simulation can be used to perform on-going process and data analysis, and how this helps ED managers perform CPI and change management. ProModel’s new ED Simulator™ will be shown as a tremendous tool for such on-going analysis, learning, and change management.

To register for this webinar, send an email by clicking here

Change in a changing ED: Rationale for on-going use of simulation tools in the ED
Tuesday January 10, 2006 at 3 PM ET

The ED is an ever-changing environment. Every hour of every day is different from the last. Seasonal acuity and volume changes can make everything from staffing to bed-need analysis a guessing game. Even the most experienced ED managers sometimes struggle with what seems to be the random nature of the workings of the system, as constraints such as staffing and ancillary departments (lab, radiology, and in-patient capacity) converge to negatively impact ED patient flow.

Knowing that there are issues isn’t difficult…but understanding and quantifying the impacts of multiple sources of problems can be impossible. Furthermore, understanding how the new circumstances effect the changes you just made to your system can result in confusion and doubt, as the key metrics fluctuate and evolve.

This requires both an on-going analytical capability and an increasing awareness and understanding of the impacts of change on the existing system. Predictive analysis via simulation has advanced in ease and accuracy to the point that non-technical staff and managers can have access to vital information on patient flow and system change on an on-going basis. This capability opens up a wealth of opportunities for:

• Ongoing process improvement
• Quantifying expectations of performance and resource benchmarks
• Better justification of demands for ancillary performance
• Enhanced systems learning, enabling better on-the-fly decision making
• Cost and revenue justifications for staff and process changes

In this Webinar, you’ll see specific examples of how simulation can be used to perform on-going process and data analysis, and how this helps ED managers perform CPI and change management. ProModel’s new ED Simulator™ will be shown as a tremendous tool for such on-going analysis, learning, and change management.

To register for this webinar, send an email by clicking here.

Data Analytics for ED Process Analysis (This webinar is in partnership with SHS.)
Wednesday January 11, 2006 3 PM ET

Planning for the future requires an understanding of current and past. A key starting point for a current state assessment is data: process data, key performance metrics, staffing data, patient arrival/mix data, patient care milestones, etc. There are many challenges associated with obtaining the necessary data and we will briefly touch on our experience and strategies for addressing these challenges.

In ED process improvement, the management engineer, ED manager, etc., will be faced with the task of analyzing/mining the data for insights. Excel, MiniTab, SPSS, and other applications are available for this purpose. During this webinar, ProModel will share its data analysis methodologies and demonstrate the use of its Data Analyzer™ (an add-on to BestFit™ from Palisade Corp.) to extract valuable information from data. Whether or not one chooses to also use simulation to model uncertainty to help predict future performance, a current state assessment of data is an extremely valuable first step. Outline of the discussion is as follows:

• High level discussion on the value of data mining and analysis. (Basically, what gets measured gets managed)
• Questions to ask BEFORE starting an ED Project
• The dangers of using benchmarks.
• Data requests: what, how much, and in what form?
• Data triage: assessing what you have
• Sample problems encountered, sampled from actual projects.
• Patching the holes: filling the data holes with valuable info, without driving yourself crazy.
• Use of Data Analyzer™, an add-on to Palisades’ BestFit BDK software that automates data distribution production
• Turning data into actionable improvement opportunities
o Sample analysis
o Sample reports
• Critical nature of on-going analysis and data feeds for continuous process improvement: what, how much, and how often?

ProModel ED Simulator 2.0 has been released.

Forget the standard notebooks of Best Practices delivered by most ED consultants. With new functionality and even more analytical capability, new ED Simulator™ version 2.0 lets you:

• Develop your OWN combination of improvements that truly are BEST for your ED
• Deeply analyze multiple bottlenecks and quantify their specific impacts on patient flow
• Test the “untestable” in a risk-free, no-harm environment
• Quantify the specific impacts of ancillary departments and admission delays on ED patient flow
• Objectively evaluate process improvement and staffing options for efficacy BEFORE you implement
• Prioritize efforts based on objective, scientific analysis and your specific goals and objectives

For more information, or for a demonstration of the new and enhanced capabilities in EDS, please contact us at healthcaresolutions@promodel.com or (877) 333-4499.