Hybrid Models with Real-Time Data in Healthcare: A Focus on Data Synchronization and Experimentation

Conventional simulation models used in Operations Research and Management Science (OR/MS) use historical data. With the increasing availability of real-time data, technologies commonly associated with applied computing, such as Data Acquisition Systems (DAS), may need to be integrated with conventional OR/MS models to develop Hybrid Models (HMs). We distinguish between HMs that use only real-time data – we refer to them as Digital Twins (DTs) – and those using a combination of historical and real-time data – called Real-time Simulation (RtS). Our previous contribution focused on the challenges of such integration, a concept referred to as information fusion, and presented a conceptualization of DT/RtS. This paper focuses on DT/RtS data synchronization and methods that could be employed from Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS). The conceptualizations and discussions reflect on the authors' experience implementing an RtS of a network of Emergency Departments and Urgent Care Centers in the UK.