The use of patient classification systems for production control of hospitals

Production control is an important issue for hospital management. Hospitals are faced with a growing demand for care and higher expectations for improved service delivery. For production control purposes information is required on different levels of aggregation: process resources and patient flows. Patient classification systems can be used to provide data on health care. The question is whether existing patient classification systems are suitable for production control purposes. In this paper we will elaborate on production control of hospitals and the suitability of existing patient classification systems.