An Integrated Strategic and Tactical Master Surgery Scheduling Approach With Stochastic Resource Demand

Abstract

T his study discusses a master surgery scheduling approach that maximizes hospital revenues while considering the impact on the downstream resources-intensive care units and general patient wards. Demand for these resources is modeled by a stochastic patient path model. I apply an integer programming model to provide the optimal allocation of how many (strategic planning problem) and what (tactical planning problem) operating room (OR) blocks to assign to each medical specialty. I demonstrate further applications of the model, such as the analysis of the value of flexible resources and the simulation of specific resource expansions. The approach is tested with real-life data from a German university hospital and achieves significant revenue increases.

Health Care Matters: Supply Chains In and Of the Health Sector

“…() article examines the impact of intra‐ and interorganizational strategies on supply chain performance, through a secondary data analysis of the supply chain performance of hospitals in California. The Sampson et al. () article tackles a key tactical research issue, care coordination roles at the point of service delivery. Finally, the Fügener () article addresses an operational‐level issue of master surgery scheduling through an integer programming model that optimizes resource allocation for maximum hospital revenue.…”

“…Perhaps the most common and crucial role for supplier reps is supporting surgery in real time. The paper by Fügener () models operating room choices in a related effort to optimize operating room usage and outcomes.…”

Application of Operational Research Techniques in Operating Room Scheduling Problems: Literature Overview

“…The block planning strategy, which is associated with the main surgical scheduling problem, defined as the allocation of operational resources to surgical groups, is being considered in many studies. In the literature examined, there are 16 main surgical scheduling studies [ 20 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 27 , 30 , 31 , 40 , 49 , 53 , 56 , 60 , 61 , 88 , 150 , 151 ]. Mannino et al [ 27 ] considered the problem of estimating demand levels in creating the main surgical schedules and then aimed at stabilizing patient tail lengths and reducing the maximum overtime.…”

Overutilization and underutilization of operating rooms - insights from behavioral health care operations management

“…This comes as no surprise as around 40 % of hospital expenses arise in the operating theater [13] and more than 60 % of hospital admissions are for surgical operations [38]. Furthermore, processes in downstream units, such as intensive care units or general wards, are triggered by the OR department [21][22][23]. Although the high importance of optimizing the usage of this scarce resource is evident, there still is much room for improvement.…”