The p-Median Problem and Health Facilities: Cost Saving and Improvement in Healthcare Delivery Through Facility Location

Abstract

The importance of health to economic growth and development is an undisputed fact. Modern advancement in technology and healthcare has contributed to improved health and productivity, but there are many people who cannot access healthcare in a timely fashion. Factors affecting delays in accessing healthcare include inadequate supply, poor location, or lack of healthcare facilities all of which can be exacerbated by increasing healthcare costs and scarcity of resources. In this study, we develop a simple two-stage method based on the p-median problem to investigate the location and access to healthcare (emergency) facilities in urban areas. We compare the results of our new method with the results of similar existing methods using 26-node, 42-node, and 55-node data. We also show the efficiency of our method with exact methods using 150-node random data. Our method compares favorably with optimal and the existing methods.