A control engineering framework for managing whole hospital occupancy

As factors such as population growth, nation-wide closure of hospitals, and an aging population combine to strain the healthcare system of the United States (US), the demand for better resource and capacity planning increases. This paper proposes a five-step methodology to model and control whole hospital occupancy. The hospital system is viewed using a continuous-time, fluid tank analogy. The system is subsequently discretized and a framework using control theory and Model Predictive Control (MPC) is developed to assist in tactical decision making, while maintaining occupancy targets. The result is a customizable modeling approach that represents interactions between different hospital areas, and interactions between the hospital and the outside world, or the population seeking hospital services.