Is the "Excel roulette" still the most efficient way to manage healthcare resources? This blog explores the three levels of healthcare resource planning – strategic, tactical, and operational – and how Axel Planner replaces manual spreadsheets with real-time visibility into staff, space, and equipment.
Excel is used for various purposes in business processes all around the world. This classic solution is very flexible, but it can also become an extremely tedious tool to use – at the latest when the company grows. In many healthcare organizations, resource optimization and planning are usually done in Excel. Is this really the most efficient way to do this important planning work, or would there be other options?
When does Excel turn from a tool into a bottleneck?
The means of production in healthcare, that is, resources that enable and disable healthcare production the most are people, facilities, devices, and, of course, money. I will skip the last resource for now, because the budget is usually the most important factor, which in itself restricts the other resources. In healthcare service production, facilities, healthcare professionals, devices, and patients encounter each other at the right time. To work smoothly, service production needs to be planned on many different levels. The typical model, adapted from the military world, is to do planning on a strategic, tactical, and operational level. The levels are distinguished by the time span and level of detail.
Three levels of healthcare resource planning: strategic, tactical, and operational
In healthcare service production, planning and steering on a strategic level are based on a rough estimate of resource needs, on a budget derived from it, and on a plan. The time period is typically 6-12 months.
On a tactical level, planning usually happens on a monthly and weekly basis, and it focuses on clinic-level planning, planning of consulting hours, and task planning. Rooms and facilities are also considered. The main idea is to optimize the use of facilities and make sure that all resources and all consulting hours have a suitable room available.
On an operational level, the use of individual resources is planned on a daily and hourly basis. Planning at different levels is a mathematical challenge where computers outperform humans.
Axel Planner brings transparency and flexibility to replace the manual grind
Until now, healthcare organizations have typically run the three-level planning roulette described above using Excel. But what if these processes could be automated and Excel replaced with another solution? AI in resource planning makes this possible, and Axel Planner easily outperforms traditional spreadsheets. It unifies the organization’s planning functions into a single system, enabling not only efficient resource planning but also smart resource optimization. Organization-wide transparency into multiple up-to-date plans reduces errors and provides the ability to update plans on the fly. Moving away from Excel is therefore not just a technical change—it is proven to save both time and money.
Learn more about Axel Planner and how it helps healthcare organizations manage their resources, rooms, and devices in real time – without Excel.
You can also calculate your savings potential with our new ROI calculator or contact us directly – we are happy to help you find a solution that meets your organization’s specific needs.
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