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Strategies for interday appointment scheduling in primary care
Lara Wiesche1, Matthias Schacht2, Brigitte Werners2
1Ruhr University Bochum, Chair of Operations Research, Universitätsstraße 150, 44801, Bochum, Germany. lara.wiesche@rub.de.
Health Care Management Science
|March 23, 2016
Summary
This study optimizes primary care physician (PCP) scheduling by determining the minimum weekly appointments needed. This balances patient needs and PCP capacity, maximizing walk-in availability.
Area of Science:
- Operations Research
- Healthcare Management
- Health Services Research
Background:
- Primary care physicians (PCPs) are the first point of contact for patients.
- Patient requests include both scheduled appointments and unscheduled walk-ins.
- Appointment scheduling significantly impacts patient wait times, treatment capacity, and PCP utilization.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the optimal number of daily appointments for PCPs on a weekly basis.
- To develop a model that balances patient and PCP preferences in scheduling.
- To maximize walk-in capacity while adhering to overall capacity constraints.
Main Methods:
- Development of a mixed integer linear programming model.
- Determination of the minimum number of scheduled appointments for a weekly profile.
- Analysis using an exemplary case study with stochastic simulations.
Main Results:
- The study provides a method to calculate the optimal number of appointments per day.
- The model considers daily variations in patient demand.
- Simulation results demonstrate the benefits of the optimized schedule on performance metrics.
Conclusions:
- Optimal appointment scheduling is crucial for efficient primary care.
- The proposed model offers a data-driven approach to enhance PCP scheduling.
- Implementing optimized schedules can improve patient access and resource utilization.
Keywords:
Capacity allocationDecision supportInterday appointment schedulingMathematical optimizationStochastic simulationMore Related Videos
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