INFORMS Open Forum

  • 1.  Utilizing Data to Predict Hospital Wait Times – It Can Save More than Your Patience!

    Posted 06-08-2023 15:54

    BALTIMORE, MD, June 8, 2023 – Headed to the emergency department (ED)? How should you decide which nearby ED to go to so that you can get in and out? New research in the INFORMS journal Manufacturing & Service Operations Management uncovers how best to showcase hospital wait times to not only save your patience, but increase efficiency, more accurately route emergency vehicles and save money.

    Click here to read the full press release.



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    Ashley Smith
    Public Relations Specialist
    INFORMS Public Affairs Coordinator
    Baltimore MD
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  • 2.  RE: Utilizing Data to Predict Hospital Wait Times – It Can Save More than Your Patience!

    Posted 06-09-2023 14:49

    Well thought research



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    Ken Fordyce
    director analytics without borders
    Arkieva
    Wilmington DE
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  • 3.  RE: Utilizing Data to Predict Hospital Wait Times – It Can Save More than Your Patience!

    Posted 06-10-2023 02:01

    This is an interesting idea as ED utilization depends on both supply side (availability) and demand side (walk-in and ambulance). Demand side is often distance-based but not always the case, e.g., preferred hospital for non-urgent. I would be curious to see if the available for expected wait time will affect demand side as well as how the forecast could feed back into the triage.



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    Aaron Lai
    Director of Data and Analytics
    Manifest Medex
    Emeryville CA
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  • 4.  RE: Utilizing Data to Predict Hospital Wait Times – It Can Save More than Your Patience!

    Posted 06-10-2023 11:48

    It's an important question.  One thought the article provoked for me is whether knowledge of wait times at ERs could influence the number of patients who would elect an urgent care facility instead of the ER.  

    A problem ERs often have is patients who choose the ER even though the condition does not really need emergency service, eg a child's cold.  

    It's a sad commentary on American health care that the ER will probably be free for many disadvantaged patients, whereas urgent care will not. A grave misallocation of scarce resources on a mammoth scale.



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    Bruce Hartman
    Professor
    University of St. Francis
    Tucson, AZ United States
    bruce@ahartman.net
    website:http://drbrucehartman.net/brucewebsite/
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