– We have seen with our own eyes how Dutch hospitals utilize data stored in their EHR systems and use it to optimize patient flow and capacity planning. The same opportunities exist in Norway. So why are they not being utilized? asks Håvard Thøgersen, Chief Operations Officer & Chief Product Officer at Deepinsight. 

Together with colleagues from Deepinsight and our sister company DIPS, Håvard went on a research trip to the Netherlands in the summer of 2022. There, we were shown around three hospitals to see how data and planning tools are used to better utilize the operating rooms in Dutch hospitals.

INSIGHTFUL VISIT: Deepinsight and DIPS were in the Netherlands to gain insight into how the country uses data for operational planning, capacity management, and patient flow. From the left: product manager Caren Quah, Thea Moseid Kristensen from DIPS, Head of UX Erica Gibson, former product manager Yvonne, and COO Håvard Thøgersen.

Collaborating with a renowned expert

The Netherlands is a pioneering country in using technology to streamline operational planning and patient flow. 

Deepinsight and Maartje Zonderland, one of the world's foremost experts in the field of data-driven process optimization, have recently become partners. She has extensive international experience in developing and applying data models on administrative health data to optimize patient flow, reduce waiting times in hospitals, and better utilize operating rooms and catheterization laboratories. She will now assist Deepinsight in developing the products that the Norwegian healthcare system needs to improve patient flow and better utilize available operating rooms.

– We are proud to partner with such a renowned expert. She comes with invaluable knowledge and experience, says Thøgersen.

EXPERT: Maartje Zonderland is one of the world's leading experts in capacity planning and patient management. She is now collaborating with Deepinsight.

Reduced the waiting list by ten weeks

Zonderland was one of the first to earn a PhD at CHOIR, the institute for health logistics at the University of Twente. There, she focused on operations analysis, or Operation Research in English, and statistics related to healthcare. During her studies, she also wrote several scientific publications based on her work. Among them are “Planning and scheduling of semi-urgent surgeries” and “Appointment planning in outpatient clinics and diagnostic facilities.”  

Today, she runs her own company where she offers consulting services and assists businesses in the healthcare sector worldwide in optimizing planning and resource use in hospitals. Additionally, she remains active in the research community, mentoring several students in the same research field. 

– I use my experience to develop optimization models that make use of patient administrative data to streamline resource use and patient flow, she says.

Through her work, Zonderland helps hospitals with advanced analyses on large amounts of data and uses the insights to account for acute patients and unforeseen situations, manage daily operations wisely, and provide patients with the care they need. 

A heart center that adopted an optimization model developed by Zonderland managed to increase the number of heart surgeries by 25 percent in just three months. Additionally, the waiting list of twelve to fourteen weeks was reduced to just two to three weeks.

– Think about what this means for the psyche of the patient waiting in line and their loved ones. With the insights from Maartje, we aim to achieve this in Norwegian healthcare institutions as well, Thøgersen asserts.

THE USER AT THE CENTER: Data must be understood by people. Deepinsight has gained valuable insights into how healthcare personnel in other countries actually use data-driven technology for planning.

Norway and Deepinsight are in a unique position

Over the last 15 years, Zonderland has helped hospitals in countries like the Netherlands, Canada, Malaysia, and Denmark use data-driven capacity planning and patient flow.

The most important factor for success is access to quality data and good data structure. With electronic patient journals (EPJ) and structured patient data in DIPS, Norway is well-positioned, believes Zonderland.

– Even with lower data quality than in Norway, Dutch hospitals have achieved good results with data-driven capacity planning and patient flow. I am very curious about what is possible in Norway, where digitalization has come far, and many processes have become digitized, allowing them to collect high-quality data over an extended period, she says.

However, even with good data quality, much of the data required to create a solution for patient flow is buried in DIPS and is not necessarily easily accessible.   

– As the sister company to DIPS, we have a unique position to leverage the opportunities in this data. Our close collaboration allows us to easily and quickly extract data from the journal system and make the solution available in DIPS. Thus, it will not be perceived as “yet another program you have to log into,” says Thøgersen.

Easy to connect to the EHR system in DIPS

– Even though we have good results, it is still challenging to integrate with the various EHR systems in the Netherlands. In some cases, it affects the flexibility of capacity planning and patient flow, explains Zonderland.

Dutch hospitals have therefore established several positions focused on capacity planning to ensure quality when the optimization models are implemented in practice.

– Deepinsight will be able to build products for capacity planning and patient flow that are more precise and flexible than what is currently possible in the Netherlands. This is primarily because we are the sister company to DIPS, allowing us to integrate with their EHR systems in Norway easily, says Erica Gibson.

Zonderland looks forward to seeing the developments in the Norwegian healthcare system in the coming years. 

– The opportunities and quality of available data suggest that you can achieve a lot in a short time, she says.

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