Scheduling and Patient Flow in an Outpatient Chemotherapy Infusion Center INFORMS November 10, 2014 Sarah Bach
Collaborators Amy Cohn, Ph.D. Brian Denton, Ph.D. Alon Weizer, MD Louise Salamin, MSA, BSN, RN Carol McMahon, BSN, RN Corinne Hardecki, BSN, RN Carolina Typaldos, MPH 2
Current Team Jeremy Castaing Vera Lo Donald Richardson Matt Rouhana Stephanie See Pamela Martinez Villarreal 3
Cancer and Cancer Treatment Cancer Statistics In 2014 there will be an estimated 1,665,540 new cancer cases Second leading cause of death in the United States Chemotherapy Infusion Center Facility where cancer treatment is given on an outpatient basis Over 50% of all cancer patients receive chemotherapy treatment Source: American Cancer Society. (2014). http://www.cancer.org 4
University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center 93,319 outpatient visits annually 51,884 infusion treatments annually 5% increase in patient volume annually University of Michigan Cancer Center 5
Project Goals Improve quality of cancer care delivery in the infusion center Reduce patient waiting times Reduce total length of day of operations Others: Promote equity in nurse workload Improve patient and nurse safety Reduce cost associated with pharmaceutical waste 6
Patient Flow Patient Arrives Labs Collected Clinic Appointment Infusion Patient Discharged Pharmacy 7
Project Initiatives Stochastic optimization to improve infusion scheduling Patient Arrives Labs Collected Clinic Appointment Infusion Patient Discharged Analyzing idea of uncoupling labs Quantifying lab processing delays and recommending improvements Pharmacy Dynamic decision tool focused on preparing more drugs in advance 8
7:00 AM 7:30 AM 8:00 AM 8:30 AM 9:00 AM 9:30 AM 10:00 AM 10:30 AM 11:00 AM 11:30 AM 12:00 PM 12:30 PM 1:00 PM 1:30 PM 2:00 PM 2:30 PM 3:00 PM 3:30 PM 4:00 PM 4:30 PM 5:00 PM 5:30 PM 6:00 PM 6:30 PM Daily Average Lab Appointments Additional Motivation 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 50% of work before 10:30 AM Infusion Lab After Clinic None Lab Before Clinic Clinic & Infusion Phlebotomist Capacity 9
Decoupling of Visits Day 1: Day 2: Lab Clinic Infusion 10
Assessing Decision of Decoupling Advantages Disadvantages Reduce patient wait times on day of infusion or clinic visit Reduce UMHS Cancer Center lab workload in morning Patients must complete two visits Decoupling becomes beneficial when roundtrip travel time and lab draw time < 1 hour 11
Percent of Patients Feasibility of Decoupling Visits Survey results indicate 9% of patients interested in a 2 day schedule 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Patient Reasons for Opposing a 2 Day Schedule Data Source: Infusion Survey of Patients on Monday, June 10, 2013. 251 Responses. 12
Methods Pulled data from electronic health record for Aug 2012 Feb 2013 (9429 patients) Patient addresses contained in this data set Calculate distance and driving duration for each patient address to the UMHS Cancer Center 13
Methods Google Maps API used to determine distance and driving duration from patient addresses to UMHS Cancer Center 14
Frequency Quantifying Driving Time to UMHS 1400 1200 1000 800 600 400 Histogram of Patient Driving Time to Cancer Center Clarity Data Aug 2012 Feb 2013 (9429 patients) Excludes patients with driving time > 4 hours Driving Duration Percent of Unique Patients Less than 30 min 29% 30-60 min 36% 60-120 min 22% 120-240 min 9% Over 4 hours 4% 200 0 0 40 80 120 Driving Time (min) 160 200 240 15
Patient Location in Michigan 9 satellite lab facilities in Southeast Michigan 16
Methods Labs can be drawn at any of 9 satellite facilities associated with UMHS 17
Frequency Driving Time to Closest Lab Facility 2000 Histogram of Patient Driving Time to Closest Lab Facility Clarity Data Aug 2012 - Feb 2013 (9429 Patients) Excludes patients with driving time > 4 hours 1500 1000 500 0 0 40 80 120 Driving Time (min) 160 200 240 18
Results of Satellite Facilities Analysis Driving Duration Percent of Patients to Satellite Percent of Patients Facilities to Cancer Center Less than 30 min 52% 29% 30-60 min 23% 36% 60-120 min 15% 22% 120-240 min 7% 9% Over 4 hours 3% 4% 19
Results of Satellite Facilities Analysis Conservatively, encourage decoupling visits for patients within 15 minutes of satellite facility 32% of patients 20
Conclusion Patients live closer to UMHS and satellite facilities than perceived by Cancer Center providers and staff Encourage decoupling of visits for patients within close proximity Educate patients on utilizing satellite facilities 21
Future Work Pilot decoupling of visits Barriers: Physician workflow differs with lab location Investigate alternative improvements to lab process Fast track phlebotomist Prioritizing lab processing 22
Acknowledgements This project is funded in part by University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center Center for Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety (CHEPS) The Seth Bonder Foundation The TDC Foundation 23
CHEPS & the HEPS Master s Program CHEPS: The Center for Healthcare Engineering & Patient Safety HEPS: Industrial and Operations Engineering (IOE) Master s Concentration in Healthcare Engineering and Patient Safety offered by CHEPS CHEPS and HEPS offer unique multidisciplinary teams from engineering, medicine, public health, nursing, and more collaborating with healthcare professionals to better provide and care for patients For more information, contact Amy Cohn at amycohn@umich.edu or visit the CHEPS website at: https://www.cheps.engin.umich.edu 24
Thank You! Questions? Contact Information: sbach@umich.edu