Managing capacity for virtual and office appointments in chronic care

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Operations Research
• Digital Health

Background:

• Chronic disease management faces challenges with limited appointment availability and physician capacity.
• Virtual appointments present a cost-effective alternative for ongoing patient care.
• Technological advancements facilitate remote patient evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a capacity allocation model for optimizing the use of virtual appointments in chronic care settings.
• To determine optimal strategies for balancing office and virtual appointment capacities.
• To maximize long-run average earnings in chronic care delivery.

Main Methods:

• A capacity allocation model was constructed for chronic care settings.
• Patient flow between office and virtual appointments was modeled using an open migration network.
• A newsvendor model was employed to plan capacity, maximizing earnings while considering varying appointment effectiveness.

Main Results:

• Optimal capacity allocation policies for virtual and office appointments were derived.
• Numerical experiments demonstrated the model's utility in systematic capacity decision-making.
• The model accounts for differences in treatment and diagnostic effectiveness between appointment types.

Conclusions:

• The developed model enables systematic capacity planning for chronic care, integrating virtual and in-person appointments.
• Considering patient disease progression alongside appointment effectiveness optimizes resource allocation.
• Virtual appointments can enhance access and efficiency in managing chronic conditions.