A Business Process Methodology to investigate organization management: a hospital case study

Abstract

Healthcare is a core area for governments, increasingly interested in improving facilities to the population with fewer resources. In fact, hospitals are facing to lack of resources, long wait times, overuse of emergency services. We focus on the business analysis of an Emergency Department, by considering a wide methodological framework (BP-M*), to analyze care pathway for patients. The preliminary data analysis on the context suggests main patterns for the arrival of patients, the distribution of urgent cases as well as the typology of discharge. In this step, an UML scheme helps in the understanding of the organization. Then, a decision support framework made of several Key Performance Indicators is performed, including an exam of the cost of different activities, a what-if analysis and simulations. The latter provide information for the re-engineering of the process. As a matter of fact, by running different scenarios, managers have the opportunity to better identify bottlenecks and to explore better performance solutions.