Optimal Capacity Allocation when Patients encounter Congestion in Primary Healthcare Network

International Journal of Mathematical, Engineering and Management Sciences

Kaushal Kumar¹ 

[1] Department of Operational Research, Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Delhi, Delhi-110007, India;

关键词: Primary care;    Public Health;    Waiting time;    Optimization;    Out-of-pocket expense;   

DOI  :  10.33889/IJMEMS.2019.4.2-032

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Universal health care aims at providing low cost or if possible free primary care to everyone. Most countries pursue this goal and it is pertinent for developing countries to make the best use of their limited resources to achieve it. In spite of every effort from the government, unfortunately patients in India spend significant amount of money on travelling and out-of-pocket expenses for availing primary care services even at public funded facilities. We propose an optimization model to help health decision makers in managing existing capacity for alleviation of this problem. The model can be used in the identification of existing health care facilities that need to be upgraded or reduced with a view to improve their utilization at minimum cost. The model recognizes increase in patient out-of-pocket expenses incurred at facilities due to longer waiting time (congestion). Results from numerical experiments are presented to explicate the functioning of the model.

【 授权许可】

Unknown