Adaptive resource allocation for efficient patient scheduling

Integrated decision making in healthcare : an operations research and management science perspective

“…This is for example the case in [498], where the capacity subdivision for a CT scanner is settled by determining the number of patients to admit of each patient group. Access times can be controlled by adequate admission control [195,203,280,498]. Admission control plays a significant role in advanced access or walk-in policies.…”

“…The balance between access times and resource utilization may be improved when resource capacities can temporarily be increased or decreased, to cope with fluctuations in patient demand [498]. For example, changing a CT scanner's opening hours [498] or changing doctor consultation time [162].…”

“…Methods: computer simulation [498], heuristics [203], Markov processes [195,203], mathematical programming [280,408,409].…”

“…When patient demand changes over time (e.g., seasonality), a dynamic subdivision of capacity, updated based on current waiting lists, already planned appointments and expected requests for appointments, performs better than a long-term, static subdivision of resource capacity [498]. Methods: computer simulation [498], mathematical programming [227,450], literature review [503].…”

“…Dynamic approaches result in intermediate-term plans in response to the variability in demand and supply. These approaches are compared in [498], and their simulation results indicate that the dynamic approach results in lower access times and higher resource utilization.…”