Title: Service variety strategies for healthcare systems under capacity limitations

Authors: Lu Chen; Yi Xia; Jiajia Zhu; Junyi Li

Addresses: College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China ' College of Management and Economics, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China ' Department of Cardiology, Beijing Anzhen Hospital, Beijing 100029, China ' Humanities and Social Science Department, Tianjin University, Tianjin 300072, China

Abstract: Some hospitals provide paid medical services in addition to basic medical services. Although paid medical services can provide a better experience for patients who are highly sensitive to delays, they cause a capacity reduction in basic medical services. We develop a model incorporating product line design and queuing models to determine the service capacity allocation for a healthcare system. Patients are categorised into two segments according to their sensitivities to waiting time. We derive the optimal capacity allocations under two strategies (providing both paid and basic medical services and providing only the basic one) and compare them. Results show that the hospital should provide only the basic medical service even if high-sensitive patients are extremely sensitive to waiting time. Under certain conditions, a hospital providing differentiated medical services should decrease capacity allocation to the paid service even if high-sensitive patients are extremely sensitive to waiting time. [Received: 13 April 2022; Accepted: 22 September 2022]

Keywords: healthcare system; capacity limitation; product line design; queuing model.

DOI: 10.1504/EJIE.2024.135386

European Journal of Industrial Engineering, 2024 Vol.18 No.1, pp.75 - 99

Received: 13 Apr 2022
Accepted: 22 Sep 2022
Published online: 08 Dec 2023 *

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