Home health care logistics management problems : integrated approach to support decisions with hierarchical interdependencies [recurso electrónico]

Abstract

In this thesis we study Home Health Care Logistics Management Problems (HHCLMP), in the context of developing countries with combined health care delivery systems of private and public providers. Two logistics decisions problems related to network design and staff management are addressed, at the strategic and tactical planning levels. The objective is to develop an integrated approach to support logistics decisions in home health care (HHC), which incorporates the hierarchical interdependencies between network design and staff management decisions. Thus, we study the districting problem in HHC in the context of a rapid-growing city present in developing economies, and describe how socio-economic conditions can be included in the analysis. We also study the staffing-recruitment problem in HHC, under the legal work regulation conditions of the context, and include logistics features of HHC systems into the analysis. Furthermore, we work on the integration of districting and staffing-recruitment decisions, through the study of the hierarchical interdependencies between the two logistics problems, with the purpose of offering support to the decision making process and find better and more integral logistics designs.