About

Starting Semester: Spring 2027
Assigned: No
Location: Atlanta

Emory Healthcare

Client Profile

The Emory Healthcare Network, established in 2011, is the largest academically based, clinically integrated network in Georgia, with more than 3,800 physicians concentrating in 70 different subspecialties at over 580 provider locations. Our core purpose is to improve lives and provide hope by delivering exceptional care to our patients, their families and the communities we serve.
Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital is Atlanta’s first hospital and was founded as Atlanta Hospital in 1880 by the Sisters of Mercy. For more than 140 years, our mission has remained the same: To provide approachable care for those in need.
Emory Saint Joseph’s Hospital is home to several nationally ranked Centers of Excellence, offering the highest level of care.

Project Description

Background:
ESJH manages surgical capacity through block and micro-block scheduling. Daily scheduling requires matching available OR time with surgical demand while considering block ownership, surgeon availability, case duration, released time, room availability, staffing, equipment, and other operational constraints.

Opportunity:
Analyze historical block to identify unused capacity, scheduling gaps, variation in case duration, release patterns, and opportunities to better match available OR time with demand. The project provides an opportunity to treat surgical scheduling as an operations research problem rather than simply a utilization review.


Client Need:

Desired Outcome:
Develop and validate a decision-support model, algorithm, or prototype that recommends more effective use of available OR capacity. The model should quantify potential improvements such as increased productive OR minutes, additional cases accommodated, reduced idle time, or improved utilization while avoiding adverse effects such as excessive overtime or downstream congestion.
Scope and Deliverables:

Scope & Deliverables:

Scope:
Focus on tactical and daily scheduling decisions using historical case, block, micro-block, release-time, case-duration, cancellation, add-on, and utilization data. The project should not redesign the entire block governance structure or duplicate functionality already available through existing Lean tools.

Primary Deliverable:
A validated scheduling optimization model or prototype that compares current scheduling performance with alternative scheduling approaches.

Skills

• Operations Research and Optimization
• Data and Statistical Analysis
• Mathematical Programming
• Forecasting and Demand Analysis
• Simulation and Scenario Analysis
• Process and Capacity Analysis
• Decision-Support Modeling
• Algorithm or Prototype Development

Data Access Requirement