SNFsim: A Discrete Event Simulator for Decision Support in Skilled Nursing Facilities

We introduce SNFsim, an open-source discrete-event simulator for developing and evaluating reinforcement learning (RL) methods for multi-dimensional sequential decision support in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs). SNFs play a vital role in the United States healthcare system, delivering specialized care to individuals with ongoing medical needs. Decision-making within SNFs is often complex due to their fast-paced and stochastic nature. SNFsim provides a modular and extendable simulation of major decision-making processes within SNFs, capturing many of the complexities and uncertainties existing in healthcare environments while still being flexible enough to allow for easy customization. Its potential uses are two-fold: First, as a test bed for the development and comparison of RL algorithms, and second, as the basis of a decision-support system that can be tailored to individual SNFs.