Reducing Emergency Medical Service response time via the reallocation of ambulance bases.

The demand for highly efficient and effective services and consumer goods is an essential prerequisite for modern organizations. In healthcare, efficiency and effectiveness mean reducing disabilities and maintaining human life. One challenge is guaranteeing rapid Emergency Medical Service (EMS) response. This study analyzes the EMS of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, using two modeling techniques: optimization and simulation. The optimization model locates ambulance bases and allocates ambulances to those bases. A simulation of this proposed configuration is run to analyze the dynamic behavior of the system. The main assumption is that optimizing the ambulance base locations can improve the system response time. Feasible solutions were found and the current system may be improved while considering economic and operational changes.