IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ejores/v267y2018i1p338-348.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Capacity planning with demand uncertainty for outpatient clinics

Author

Listed:
  • Nguyen, Thu Ba T.
  • Sivakumar, Appa Iyer
  • Graves, Stephen C.

Abstract

In this study, we develop a capacity planning model to determine the required number of physicians for an outpatient system with patient reentry. First-visit (FV) patients are assumed to arrive randomly to the system. After their first appointment, the FV patient may require additional appointments, and will then become a re-visit (RV) patient; after each appointment an RV patient will require subsequent visits with a given probability. The system must achieve a set of targets on the appointment lead-times for both FV and RV patients. Furthermore, the system must have sufficient capacity to assure that a given percentile of FV patients is admitted. We develop a deterministic model that finds the required capacity over a finite horizon. We establish the tractability of the deterministic model and show that it provides a reasonable approximation to the stochastic model. We also demonstrate the value from knowing the demands in terms of the required resources. These conclusions are numerically illustrated using real data from the Urology outpatient clinic of the studied hospital.

Suggested Citation

  • Nguyen, Thu Ba T. & Sivakumar, Appa Iyer & Graves, Stephen C., 2018. "Capacity planning with demand uncertainty for outpatient clinics," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 267(1), pages 338-348.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:267:y:2018:i:1:p:338-348
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ejor.2017.11.038
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0377221717310494
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ejor.2017.11.038?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kuiper, Alex & Mandjes, Michel, 2015. "Appointment scheduling in tandem-type service systems," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 57(PB), pages 145-156.
    2. Xiuli Qu & Yidong Peng & Nan Kong & Jing Shi, 2013. "A two-phase approach to scheduling multi-category outpatient appointments – A case study of a women’s clinic," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 197-216, September.
    3. Kemper, Benjamin & Klaassen, Chris A.J. & Mandjes, Michel, 2014. "Optimized appointment scheduling," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 239(1), pages 243-255.
    4. David Bamford & Elizabeth Chatziaslan, 2009. "Healthcare capacity measurement," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 58(8), pages 748-766, October.
    5. Nan Liu, 2016. "Optimal Choice for Appointment Scheduling Window under Patient No-Show Behavior," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 25(1), pages 128-142, January.
    6. Ittig, Peter T., 1985. "Capacity planning in service operations: The case of hospital outpatient facilities," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 425-429.
    7. Xiuli Qu & Jing Shi, 2009. "Effect of two-level provider capacities on the performance of open access clinics," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 99-114, March.
    8. Joanne C. Bennett & D. J. Worthington, 1998. "An Example of a Good but Partially Successful OR Engagement: Improving Outpatient Clinic Operations," Interfaces, INFORMS, vol. 28(5), pages 56-69, October.
    9. S. Creemers & J. Beliën & M. Lambrecht, 2012. "The optimal allocation of server time slots over different classes of customers," Post-Print hal-00800190, HAL.
    10. J Bowers, 2010. "Waiting list behaviour and the consequences for NHS targets," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 61(2), pages 246-254, February.
    11. Linda V. Green & Sergei Savin, 2008. "Reducing Delays for Medical Appointments: A Queueing Approach," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 56(6), pages 1526-1538, December.
    12. G. C. Calafiore & L. El Ghaoui, 2006. "On Distributionally Robust Chance-Constrained Linear Programs," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 130(1), pages 1-22, July.
    13. A. Charnes & W. W. Cooper, 1963. "Deterministic Equivalents for Optimizing and Satisficing under Chance Constraints," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 11(1), pages 18-39, February.
    14. Ahmadi-Javid, Amir & Jalali, Zahra & Klassen, Kenneth J, 2017. "Outpatient appointment systems in healthcare: A review of optimization studies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(1), pages 3-34.
    15. Tugba Cayirli & Evrim Didem Gunes, 2014. "Outpatient appointment scheduling in presence of seasonal walk-ins," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 65(4), pages 512-531, April.
    16. Hari Balasubramanian & Sebastian Biehl & Longjie Dai & Ana Muriel, 2014. "Dynamic allocation of same-day requests in multi-physician primary care practices in the presence of prescheduled appointments," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 31-48, March.
    17. Qu, Xiuli & Rardin, Ronald L. & Williams, Julie Ann S. & Willis, Deanna R., 2007. "Matching daily healthcare provider capacity to demand in advanced access scheduling systems," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 183(2), pages 812-826, December.
    18. Sauré, Antoine & Patrick, Jonathan & Tyldesley, Scott & Puterman, Martin L., 2012. "Dynamic multi-appointment patient scheduling for radiation therapy," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 223(2), pages 573-584.
    19. Creemers, Stefan & Beliën, Jeroen & Lambrecht, Marc, 2012. "The optimal allocation of server time slots over different classes of patients," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 219(3), pages 508-521.
    20. Linda V. Green & Sergei Savin & Ben Wang, 2006. "Managing Patient Service in a Diagnostic Medical Facility," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 54(1), pages 11-25, February.
    21. Street, Andrew & Duckett, Stephen, 1996. "Are waiting lists inevitable?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(1), pages 1-15, April.
    22. Thu Nguyen & Appa Sivakumar & Stephen Graves, 2015. "A network flow approach for tactical resource planning in outpatient clinics," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 124-136, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marlin Ulmer & Martin Savelsbergh, 2020. "Workforce Scheduling in the Era of Crowdsourced Delivery," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 1113-1133, July.
    2. Terry Jones & Anat Drach‐Zahavy & Mário Amorim‐Lopes & Eileen Willis, 2020. "Systems, economics, and neoliberal politics: Theories to understand missed nursing care," Nursing & Health Sciences, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(3), pages 586-592, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ahmadi-Javid, Amir & Jalali, Zahra & Klassen, Kenneth J, 2017. "Outpatient appointment systems in healthcare: A review of optimization studies," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(1), pages 3-34.
    2. Paola Cappanera & Filippo Visintin & Carlo Banditori & Daniele Feo, 2019. "Evaluating the long-term effects of appointment scheduling policies in a magnetic resonance imaging setting," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 31(1), pages 212-254, March.
    3. Miao Bai & Bjorn Berg & Esra Sisikoglu Sir & Mustafa Y. Sir, 2023. "Partially partitioned templating strategies for outpatient specialty practices," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 32(1), pages 301-318, January.
    4. Pan, Xingwei & Geng, Na & Xie, Xiaolan & Wen, Jing, 2020. "Managing appointments with waiting time targets and random walk-ins," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    5. Jiang, Bowen & Tang, Jiafu & Yan, Chongjun, 2019. "A stochastic programming model for outpatient appointment scheduling considering unpunctuality," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 70-82.
    6. Tugba Cayirli & Pinar Dursun & Evrim D. Gunes, 2019. "An integrated analysis of capacity allocation and patient scheduling in presence of seasonal walk-ins," Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 524-561, June.
    7. Christos Zacharias & Tallys Yunes, 2020. "Multimodularity in the Stochastic Appointment Scheduling Problem with Discrete Arrival Epochs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(2), pages 744-763, February.
    8. Thu Nguyen & Appa Sivakumar & Stephen Graves, 2015. "A network flow approach for tactical resource planning in outpatient clinics," Health Care Management Science, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 124-136, June.
    9. Dogru, Ali K. & Melouk, Sharif H., 2019. "Adaptive appointment scheduling for patient-centered medical homes," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 85(C), pages 166-181.
    10. Gang Du & Xinyue Li & Hui Hu & Xiaoling Ouyang, 2018. "Optimizing Daily Service Scheduling for Medical Diagnostic Equipment Considering Patient Satisfaction and Hospital Revenue," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-23, September.
    11. De Vuyst, Stijn & Bruneel, Herwig & Fiems, Dieter, 2014. "Computationally efficient evaluation of appointment schedules in health care," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 237(3), pages 1142-1154.
    12. Shuwan Zhu & Wenjuan Fan & Shanlin Yang & Jun Pei & Panos M. Pardalos, 2019. "Operating room planning and surgical case scheduling: a review of literature," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 757-805, April.
    13. Reihaneh, Mohammad & Ansari, Sina & Farhadi, Farbod, 2023. "Patient appointment scheduling at hemodialysis centers: An exact branch and price approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 309(1), pages 35-52.
    14. Shehadeh, Karmel S. & Cohn, Amy E.M. & Epelman, Marina A., 2019. "Analysis of models for the Stochastic Outpatient Procedure Scheduling Problem," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 279(3), pages 721-731.
    15. Tugba Cayirli & Kum Khiong Yang, 2019. "Altering the Environment to Improve Appointment System Performance," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 11(2), pages 138-154, June.
    16. Qu, Xiuli & Peng, Yidong & Shi, Jing & LaGanga, Linda, 2015. "An MDP model for walk-in patient admission management in primary care clinics," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 303-320.
    17. Hyun-Jung Alvarez-Oh & Hari Balasubramanian & Ekin Koker & Ana Muriel, 2018. "Stochastic Appointment Scheduling in a Team Primary Care Practice with Two Flexible Nurses and Two Dedicated Providers," Service Science, INFORMS, vol. 10(3), pages 241-260, September.
    18. Van-Anh Truong, 2015. "Optimal Advance Scheduling," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 61(7), pages 1584-1597, July.
    19. Liping Zhou & Na Geng & Zhibin Jiang & Shan Jiang, 2022. "Integrated Multiresource Capacity Planning and Multitype Patient Scheduling," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 34(1), pages 129-149, January.
    20. Vink, Wouter & Kuiper, Alex & Kemper, Benjamin & Bhulai, Sandjai, 2015. "Optimal appointment scheduling in continuous time: The lag order approximation method," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(1), pages 213-219.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ejores:v:267:y:2018:i:1:p:338-348. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/eor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.