Scalable Predictive Modeling for Hospitalization Prioritization: A Hybrid Batch–Streaming Approach

Abstract

Healthcare systems worldwide have faced unprecedented pressure during crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, exposing limits in managing scarce hospital resources. Many predictive models remain static, unable to adapt to new variants, shifting conditions, or diverse patient populations. This work proposes a dynamic prioritization framework that recalculates severity scores in batch mode when new factors appear and applies them instantly through a streaming pipeline to incoming patients. Unlike approaches focused only on fixed mortality or severity risks, our model integrates dual datasets (survivors and non-survivors) to refine feature selection and weighting, enhancing robustness. Built on a big data infrastructure (Spark/Databricks), it ensures scalability and responsiveness, even with millions of records. Experimental results confirm the effectiveness of this architecture: The artificial neural network (ANN) achieved 98.7% accuracy, with higher precision and recall than traditional models, while random forest and logistic regression also showed strong AUC values. Additional tests, including temporal validation and real-time latency simulation, demonstrated both stability over time and feasibility for deployment in near-real-world conditions. By combining adaptability, robustness, and scalability, the proposed framework offers a methodological contribution to healthcare analytics, supporting fair and effective hospitalization prioritization during pandemics and other public health emergencies.