Hospitals are constantly optimizing their workflows to provide high-quality medical services at affordable costs. However, due to the difficulty to predict precise surgery durations, unforseen complications, and the occurrence of emergencies, it can happen that resources are unavaible or that even scarce resources are sometimes idle. Can one decrease delays, improve the quality of service, and cut costs by data analysis and mathematical optimization? Exactly this is the mission of the project "Information-based Optimization of Surgery Schedules". IBOSS is a research collaboration of the Association for OP Management, Charité, Freie Universität Berlin, University of Paderborn, and Zuse Institute Berlin, funded by the German Ministry of Research and Education in its program "Mathematics for Innovation in Industry and Services 2016-2019". A team of IBOSS reserachers and colleagues of the sister project HealthFACT met on Feb 22./23. to hold a kick-off meeting in the premises of Charité and ZIB. The picture shows (from left to right) Tim Conrad (FUB/ZIB), Alexander Tesch (ZIB), Sebastian Peitz (U Paderborn), Johanna Schröder (Fraunhofer ITWM), Götz Bosse (Charité), Mona Rams (FUB), Bennet Gebken (U Paderborn), Ralf Borndörfer (FUB/ZIB), Guillaume Sagnol (TUB/ZIB), and Michael Dellnitz (U Paderborn) on a tour through the operation theatres of Charité.
