Proceedings of the 2007 Industrial Engineering Research Conference G. Bayraksan, W. Lin, Y. Son, and R. Wysk, eds. Information and Resource Coordination in Healthcare Providers Karim Camille Boustany, Barrett S. Caldwell School of Industrial Engineering Purdue University, IN 47906, USA Abstract The purpose of this study is to develop a response mechanism for real-world instances where degraded conditions (i.e. pandemic) hinder information coordination in healthcare providers. One aspect of this research was the breakdown of the healthcare information system into its various sub-systems. Another aspect of the research was the identification and analysis of the communication links that exist between them. Collecting data through interviews and observations can demonstrate various configurations of this network of information flow at different levels of analysis. This system-of-systems approach allows for the simulation and evaluation of the behavior of healthcare information systems over time. Keywords Information coordination, information sharing, healthcare information system, system-of-systems, decision support 1. Introduction 1.1 Problem Definition Currently, the Healthcare Information System (HIS) is faced with a challenge to accommodate an increasing demand for “more” capacity. Most likely, this challenge will be exacerbated by the growth in the aging population, increasing public expectations, continuing gaps between demand and capacity, and the complexity and scale of the health services [10]. More capacity can be provided by either investing in new equipment or utilizing the available resources in a better way. One way to do that is to design (or redesign) an efficient HIS. Lapão suggests that developing such a system can be used to help support decision making to reduce resources waste, and thus increase capacity [8]. Therefore, understanding the characteristic healthcare delivery requirements and communication patterns among healthcare professionals seems to be necessary to effectively support information sharing and coordination. In this paper, we first describe the System-of-Systems (SoS) approach as a recently introduced method to representing such systems. After gaining a thorough grounding on this concept and its taxonomy, we draw a parallel with the HIS and redefine the latter’s components from the SoS perspective. As for the communication among these components, the different types of information flow are categorized, and “communication links” are defined as relations between two communication interfaces, one being the sender of a piece of information, the other one being the receiver [2]. Finally we discuss the attributes of the information pathways formed by each pair of sender-receiver, and the benefits that this representation provides using simulation techniques. 1.2 Background Healthcare professionals perceive significant gaps between information needs and timely access, and communication difficulties are commonly linked to poor outcomes. While physicians and nurses have different needs, methods and goals, they share common problems in obtaining information and communicating effectively. Unfortunately there are few studies that characterize the types of information, or the methods of delivery that are critical to prevent latent errors [9]. A HIS is the prerequisite for the logistics of hospital information. Caused by many independent subsystems with different methods of information processing and overlapping workflows, the structure of HIS is complex and heterogeneous. Despite the common expectation that improved bandwidth and computing power will ensure effective knowledge synchronization and task coordination, it is clear that information and communication technology capabilities reflect only one aspect of task and temporal coordination of distributed teams of experts. Ongoing research in common