HealthFaCT Contents

Project Description of HealthFaCT

Background

Ambulatory care is an essential part of our health care system. This
system faces major challenges, especially with respect to demographic
changes, centralization of health care facilities as well as a
combination of dwindling ressources and increasing costs. This change is
already noticeable in rural environments. Small villages and dispersed
settlements are affected by huge population decreases. Hence, the
current medical infrastructure is no longer sustainable.

Goal

A health care system which remains operational is the basis of a high
quality of life and its development has an exceptional relevance to
society. Decision-supporting systems improving ambulatory care in rural
environments are developed, used and evaluated within HealthFaCT.
Thereby, high uncertainties in terms of demographic development,
frequently varying demands or suddenly appearing emergency calls must
not be ignored. Moreover, the planning of patient transportations and
rescue missions have real-time requirements without any knowledge about
future requests. For the purpose of evaluating the established models
and algorithms, a complex simulation environment will be developed. Not
only the current situation but also future scenarios can be studied with
this system. The usage of newly developed solution methods can be
assessed with this tool in terms of costs and usability, which could be
beneficial in making political decisions.

Key activities

The collaborative project HealthFaCT is divided into four subprojects:
<ul> <li>Subproject 1: “Optimal pharmaceutical supply”</li>
<li>Subproject 2: “Optimal locations for emergency medical
services”</li> <li>Subproject 3: “Minimizing waiting times in patient
transportations and rescue missions”</li> <li>Subproject 4: “Data
analysis and simulation environment”</li> </ul>