Title: Evaluating policies using agent-based simulations: investigating policies for continuity of care

Authors: Gregory W. Ramsey

Addresses: Information Science and Systems, Earl Graves School of Business and Management, Morgan State University, McMechen Hall, Room 507, 1700 E. Cold Spring Lane, Baltimore, MD 21251, USA

Abstract: Anticipating effects of proposed clinical policies is a difficult task. This study investigates the usefulness of agent-based simulations for evaluating clinical policies. Two policies for continuity of care for patients with type 2 diabetes are investigated using an agent-based simulation. Computational models of a dynamic decision environment were simulated to determine aggregated effects of individual care-providing agents acting to achieve clinical goals. The simulated policies were: 1) continuous care (CC), where each patient was randomly assigned a specific physician model for care across visits; 2) opportunistic care (OC), where each patient on each visit was randomly assigned to a physician model for treatment. These policy scenarios are at the crux of a debate as to whether continuity of care needs to be administered by a single provider or by a single organisation (e.g., clinic). The study determines under which conditions CC and OC policies result in favourable patient outcomes.

Keywords: clinical policies; agent-based simulation; type 2 diabetes; continuity of care; policy simulation; computational modelling; policy evaluation; policy investigation; agent-based systems; multi-agent systems; MAS; policy effects; diabetic patients; continuous care; opportunistic care; patient outcomes.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSPM.2014.066364

International Journal of Simulation and Process Modelling, 2014 Vol.9 No.4, pp.255 - 269

Received: 09 Oct 2012
Accepted: 27 Dec 2013
Published online: 30 Apr 2015 *

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