Operations research applications in home healthcare

Abstract

The home health care industry is an important component of health care systems that have the potential to lower the system-wide costs of delivering care, and free capacity in overcrowded acute care settings such as hospitals. Demand is doubling, but resources are scarce. A nursing shortage and near-zero profit margins hinder the ability of home care agencies to meet the increasing patient demand. The effective utilization of resources is vital to the continued availability of home care services. There is tremendous opportunity for the operations research community to address the challenges faced by home care agencies to improve their ability to meet as much patient demand as possible. This chapter describes tactical and operational planning problems arising in home health care, and discusses alternative configurations of home health supply chains. Formulations for home health nurse districting, home health nurse routing and scheduling, and home health supply chain problems are presented, and the relevant literature is reviewed. Recent developments in remote monitoring technologies that could change the home health care landscape are discussed, and future research directions are proposed.