The LH5 Model for Data Mining

In the age of E-Business many companies are faced with massive data sets that must be analysed for gaining a competitive edge. These data sets are in many instances incomplete and quite often not of very high quality. Although statistical analysis can be used to pre-process these data sets, this technique has its own limitations. In this paper we are presenting a system – and its underlying model – that can be used to investigate the integrity of existing data and pre-process the data into clearer data sets to be mined. LH5 is a rule -based system, capable of selflearning and is illustrated using a medical data set

analyzing simulation

A data warehouse environment for storing an

Evaluating the costs of alternative options for dementia services

In the next decade the number of demented people is likely to increase. This has a financial impact on the resources allocated for health and social care. Classical methodologies for dealing with dementia include the historic model that has been criticised for its poor co‐ordination between general practitioners, psychiatrists, social workers and the treatment services, and the needs‐based approach that, although it involves a co‐ordinating needs manager, does not prevent leapfrogging of patients. In order to overcome these problems we propose an annual screening of patients to take place in the needs‐based models and compare this with a more sophisticated model in which after being screened patients are investigated for potential drug treatment. We also consider mix intervals for under 75 and over 75. Decision analysis is used to assess the different screening options. Assuming a 20% reduction by treatment of the cost of care we find optimal the investigation/treatment of all patients after screening. Sensitivity analysis shows that even an 8.5% reduction would make the needs‐based models non‐optimal. Copyright Kluwer Academic Publishers 1998dementia, cost of care, cost of treatment, screening, decision analysis,

Intelligent patient management

Healthcare approaches with origins in Artificial Intelligence and Operational Research can greatly improve the diagnosis, treatment and overall care of patients. This book focuses on the use of such Intelligent Patient Management for healthcare professionals

Evaluating alternative surgery strategies with discrete-event simulation model

Simulation modeling has become a well-established tool to aid healthcare decision makers in evaluating alternative system design in order to improve hospital performances. A simulation model is developed in this study to evaluate an alternative planning strategy for an operating theatre of a medium-size university hospital in Belgium. Real data are used in this model to derive the simulation parameters and are collected from a one-year observation period where a “modified block scheduling” strategy is currently implemented. This paper is concluded with some suggestions for improving the hospital service efficiency