Decision support system for the analysis of hospital operation indicators

The inauguration of national health insurance (NHI) in many countries and their worsening financial condition has increased the sensitivity to operational cost and efficiency in hospitals. For several years, hospitals have been monitoring their operations by analyzing the financial and operational reports that are provided. Because of the rapidly changing character of the medical industry, statistical data shown on paper are no longer sufficient for decision makers. This paper describes a decision support system (DSS) for hospital administrators to assist in analyzing their operations efficiently and precisely. In hospitals, operational data of outpatients and inpatients are now stored on computers, resulting in much easier and faster data acquisition for administrators. The proposed system makes suggestions to hospital administrators and is able to self-learn to improve its future usefulness. With the dual capabilities of integrating evaluations and data collecting, the system can assist administrators in discovering and resolving problems quickly. The system provides multidimensional and multilevel analyses, by using data warehousing techniques, and generates appropriate advice to users by employing decision-making methodology. The self-learning function of the system makes it work like an expert, continually modifying its content (knowledge) and generating advice that is promptly updated to accord with changes in the medical industry.