A methodology for modeling front office and patient care processes in ambulatory health care

Although discrete event simulation has made significant progress in the health care field, it has been tested primarily in hospitals and specialty clinics. Our mission was to assess the effectiveness and economics of simulation in free standing ambulatory health care settings. Our findings to date indicate a good fit of simulation tools for the objective of total business process improvement. In addition to the simulation tools, we used other hardware and software solutions to meet the special needs of small businesses such as small health care providers. Critical success factors for the project were visual mapping and simulation tools, extensive energy and time in process and resource mapping, data collection methods, technologies that minimize on-site time for client and consultant, and the importance of having a clinical healthcare professional on the consultant team. The techniques detailed can be applied to diverse simulation projects for effective results.