A new algorithm reduces patient waiting times, reducing costs associated with test delays

The first study is known to examine the recording of optimal outpatient trials as the flexibility of inpatient trials has led to shorter waiting times for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) patients at Lahey Hospital & Medical Center in Burlington, Mass.

A team of researchers from Dartmouth Engineering and Philips worked to identify sources of delay for MRI procedures at Lahey Hospital to optimize registration and reduce the hospital’s overall costs by 23 percent.

The study was led by Dartmouth, “Stochastic Outpatient Programming with Flexible Accommodation for Patient Trials,” with support from Philips and was recently published by Healthcare Management Science in collaboration with Lahey Hospital.

Service excellence and positive patient experiences are a key focus for the hospital. We continuously monitor various aspects of patient experiences and one key indicator is patient waiting times. With the goal of seeking to improve patient waiting times, we worked with data science researchers at Philips and Dartmouth to help identify levers for improvement that could be achieved without ‘blocking access. “

Christoph Wald, Professor and Chair, Department of Radiation, Lahey Hospital, Tufts University School of Medicine

Prior to working with the researchers, on an average weekly day, outpatients at Lahey Hospital waited approximately 54 minutes from the time they reached the start of their trial.

The researchers concluded that one of the reasons for the typical delay is a complex registration system, which requires the attendance of emergency room patients, inpatients and outpatients; although tests for inpatients are usually flexible and can be delayed if necessary, other meetings cannot.

“Mathematical models and algorithms are critical to improving the efficiency of health care systems, especially in the current crisis we are going through. By analyzing patient data, we found that there were obvious delays due to the lack of best schedule, ”said first author Yifei Sun, a Dartmouth Engineering PhD candidate.

“This research will use optimization and simulation tools to help Lahey Hospital’s MRI centers better design their schedule to reduce overall cost, which includes patient waiting time.”

First, the researchers reviewed data to analyze and identify sources of delay. They then worked on developing a mathematical model to determine the optimal length for each test slot and the location of patient tests within the entire table.

Finally, the researchers developed an algorithm to reduce the waiting time and cost associated with outpatient test delays, equipment downtime, additional staff time, and offset patient tests.

“This iterative development process has resulted in measurable improvements to patient waiting times,” Wald said. “The construction and use of a simulation model has been instrumental in educating the Lahey team about the benefits of separating workflow components to achieve a fully developed process product. We have extended this approach to identify bottles in our radiation intervention workflow and to add additional capacity. under the restrictions of employee records. “

The researchers believe their solutions are generally relevant, as the issue is common to many central hospitals across the country.

“We also made recommendations to hospitals that do not have optimization tools or have different priorities, such as patient waiting times or temporary device times,” said Sun, who was working on the paper with her consultant Vikrant Vaze, State Family Career Development Partner Stata Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth.