Simulation of New Healthcare Delivery to Evaluate Impacts on Patient Access to Care: A Telehealth Supply and Demand use Case

Abstract

We propose a framework, Modeling HealthCARE: Capacity, Access, and Resource Evaluation, that uses hybrid simulation to help healthcare organizations evaluate supply and demand as they implement alternative healthcare services. The focus of this tool is on patients and their access to care. We integrate agent-based and discrete event simulation to model the patient as an agent adopting and requesting new services, following a discrete-event-driven process based on the existing and new healthcare journey. We model a use case in which a regional Department of Veterans Affairs healthcare organization is expanding its telehealth capabilities to meet growing demand for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder treatment and is using telehealth to deliver services to Veterans, which saves them from traveling long distances. Results of our proof of concept model show that as adoption of telehealth increases, wait times and travel distances decrease, as service capacity and resources are configured to meet demand.