Why the distribution matters: Using discrete event simulation to demonstrate the impact of the distribution of procedure times on hospital operating room utilisation and average procedure cost

Conclusion: Simple approaches to estimating procedure costs may under-estimate resource consumption and do so in a way that is biased against technologies with shorter and more predictable procedure duration. For health technology decisions where a substantial part of costs are OR resources, a more sophisticated approach, taking account of the real-world implications of the distribution of procedure durations, should be used to avoid potential bias.