The Problem of Assigning Patients to Appropriate Health Institutions Using Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Goal Programming in Health Tourism

Health tourism is an increasingly vital sector for both Kayseri and Türkiye, contributing significantly to exports and foreign currency inflows. Recent investments in health tourism infrastructure have positioned Kayseri as one of the leading cities in the country, particularly due to its strong healthcare facilities. This study explores Kayseri’s potential in health tourism, with a focus on bariatric surgery, by employing Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) and optimization methods. The study first provides an extensive literature review to identify the key factors influencing patients’ selection of health institutions for bariatric surgery. Subsequently, the Group Best-Worst Method (G-BWM) is applied using expert input from managers of bariatric surgery centers to determine the relative importance of these factors. Based on the G-BWM findings, nine health institutions in Kayseri offering obesity surgery services are evaluated and ranked using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), which generates institutional performance scores. Building on these results, a Goal Programming model is developed to assign patients to suitable health institutions while simultaneously considering the health institution’s revenue and patient satisfaction. This study offers several novel contributions. It integrates MCDM techniques with goal programming in the context of health tourism—a combination not widely explored in the literature. Additionally, it provides a comparative assessment of the factors influencing health tourists’ decision-making processes, offering policymakers a strategic framework for resource allocation. Lastly, by presenting a mathematical model for patient-institution assignment, the study offers practical guidance for health tourism organizations aiming to enhance both health institution revenue and patient satisfaction in the health tourism sector.