Video game for interactively modeling community health behavior and costs for prevention and treatment

Abstract

A video game application that interactively simulates how a budget can be managed for health care prevention and treatment in a community based upon several factors. These factors include the availability and type of prevention and treatment facilities in the community, how effectively a populace uses available facilities, and how effectively costs are managed for increasing the capacity of treatment and prevention in the community. A player can advance to a next round of the video game if all of the virtual populace has either received treatment for an illness (when they are ill) or participated in a prevention action. Also, to successfully complete a round, the number of emergency hospital visits that occur during a round are less than a predetermined parameter and the costs incurred during the round do not exceed the current round's budget. Health indicators may also be associated with members of the virtual populace.

1 . A method for employing a video game to simulate costs for health care treatment and prevention for a populace of a virtual community, comprising:
 receiving at least one parameter regarding the virtual community and the populace, wherein a budget and a time period for a round of the video game are generated based on the at least one received parameter;   during the round of the video game, enabling each person that is ill in the virtual community to be provided with a treatment action that is charged to the budget;   during the round of the video game, enabling each person that is healthy in the virtual community to be provided with a prevention action that is credited to the budget;   during the round of the video game, enabling at least one of a treatment facility and a prevention facility to be added to the virtual community, wherein the at least one added facility is debited from the budget and available for at least one next round; and   at the end of each round of the video game, displaying an analysis of a remainder of the budget, and a result of each treatment action and each prevention action that is provided to each person in the virtual community.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising repeating the method until at least one of the budget is exceeded, each person in the virtual community is provided with at least one of the treatment action and the prevention action, or a maximum amount of emergency hospital visits are exceeded. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising enabling the user to select a type of treatment facility and a type of the prevention facility to be added to the virtual community. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying the player of each round as a winner where more prevention actions are performed than treatment actions during the round of the video game. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising enabling the user to select at least one parameter for determining a size of the virtual community, a level of difficulty, and an amount of virtual persons in the virtual community. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising enabling the user to select a particular treatment facility in the virtual community for each ill person to receive each treatment action. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising enabling the user to select a particular prevention facility in the virtual community for each healthy person to receive each prevention action. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing at least one wildcard incident; and   employing the at least one wildcard incident to modify the round of the game, wherein each wild card incident is at least one of a positive incident that eases playing the round or a negative incident that provides increased difficulty in playing the round.   
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 providing at least one health indicator associated with at least one person in the virtual community.   
     
     
         10 . A system for a video game to simulate costs for health care treatment and prevention for a populace of a virtual community, comprising:
 a server, including
 a memory for storing code that enables actions; 
 a processor for performing actions, comprising:
 receiving at least one parameter regarding the virtual community and the populace, wherein a budget and a time period for a round of the video game are generated based on the at least one received parameter; and 
 at the end of each round of the video game, enabling displaying of an analysis of a remainder of the budget, and a result of each treatment action and each prevention action that is provided to each person in the virtual community; and 
 
   a client comprising:
 a memory for storing code that enables actions; 
 a processor for performing actions, including:
 during the round of the video game, enabling each person that is ill in the virtual community to be provided with a treatment action that is charged to the budget; 
 during the round of the video game, enabling each person that is healthy in the virtual community to be provided with a prevention action that is credited to the budget; and 
 during the round of the video game, enabling at least one of a treatment facility and a prevention facility to be added to the virtual community, wherein the at least one added facility is debited from the budget and available for at least one next round. 
 
   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the client performs further actions comprising repeating the actions until at least one of the budget is exceeded, each person in the virtual community is provided with at least one of the treatment action and the prevention action, or a maximum amount of emergency hospital visits are exceeded. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the client further comprises enabling the user to select a type of treatment facility and a type of the prevention facility to be added to the virtual community. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the server further comprises enabling an identification of the player of each round as a winner if more prevention actions are performed than treatment actions during the round of the video game. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the server further comprises enabling the user to select at least one parameter for determining a size of the virtual community, a level of difficulty, and an amount of virtual persons in the virtual community. 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the server further comprises enabling the user to select a particular treatment facility in the virtual community for each ill person to receive each treatment action. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the client further comprises enabling the user to select a particular prevention facility in the virtual community for each healthy person to receive each prevention action. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the server further comprises:
 providing at least one wildcard incident; and   employing the at least one wildcard incident to modify the round of the video game, wherein each wild card incident is at least one of a positive incident that eases playing the round or a negative incident that provides increased difficulty in playing the round.   
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 10 , wherein the server further comprises:
 providing at least one health indicator associated with at least one person in the virtual community.   
     
     
         19 . A processor readable storage medium that includes code for enabling actions for employing a video game to simulate costs for health care treatment and prevention for a populace of a virtual community, comprising:
 a first module for receiving at least one parameter regarding the virtual community and the populace, wherein a budget and a time period for a round of the video game are generated based on the at least one received parameter;   a second module for enabling each person that is ill in the virtual community to be provided with a treatment action that is debited from the budget during the round of the video game;   a third module for enabling each person that is healthy in the virtual community to be provided with a prevention action that is credited to the budget during the round of the video game;   a fourth module for enabling at least one of a treatment facility and a prevention facility to be added to the virtual community during the round of the video game, wherein the at least one added facility is charged to the budget and available for at least one next round; and   a fifth module for displaying an analysis of a remainder of the budget, and a result of each treatment action and each prevention action that is provided to each person in the virtual community at the end of each round of the video game.   
     
     
         20 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for repeating the method until at least one of the budget is exceeded, each person in the virtual community is provided with at least one of the treatment action and the prevention action, or a maximum amount of emergency hospital visits are exceeded. 
     
     
         21 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for enabling the user to select a type of treatment facility and a type of the prevention facility to be added to the virtual community. 
     
     
         22 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for identifying the player of each round as a winner where more prevention actions are performed than treatment actions during the round of the video game. 
     
     
         23 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for enabling the user to select at least one parameter for determining a size of the virtual community, a level of difficulty, and an amount of virtual persons in the virtual community. 
     
     
         24 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for enabling the user to select a particular treatment facility in the virtual community for each ill person to receive each treatment action. 
     
     
         25 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for enabling the user to select a particular prevention facility in the virtual community for each healthy person to receive each prevention action. 
     
     
         26 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for providing at least one wildcard incident that is employed to modify the round of the video game, wherein each wild card incident is at least one of a positive incident that eases playing the round or a negative incident that provides increased difficulty in playing the round. 
     
     
         27 . The processor readable storage medium of  claim 19 , further comprising another module for providing at least one health indicator associated with at least one person in the virtual community. 
     
     
         28 . An apparatus for employing a video game to simulate costs for health care treatment and prevention for a populace of a virtual community:
 a memory for storing code that enables actions;   a processor for performing actions, including:
 receiving at least one parameter regarding the virtual community and the populace, wherein a budget and a time period for a round of the video game are generated based on the at least one received parameter; 
 during the round of the video game, enabling each person that is ill in the virtual community to be provided with a treatment action that is charged to the budget; 
 during the round of the game, enabling each person that is healthy in the virtual community to be provided with a prevention action that is credited to the budget; 
 during the round of the game, enabling at least one of a treatment facility and a prevention facility to be added to the virtual community, wherein the at least one added facility is debited from the budget and available for at least one next round; and 
 at the end of each round of the video game, displaying an analysis of a remainder of the budget, and a result of each treatment action and each prevention action that is provided to each person in the virtual community. 
   
     
     
         29 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the actions further comprise providing at least one health indicator associated with at least one person in the virtual community. 
     
     
         30 . The apparatus of  claim 28 , wherein the actions further comprise identifying the player of each round as a winner where more prevention actions are performed than treatment actions during the round of the video game.