Models and Methods for Improving Patient Access

This chapter provides an overview of the work that has been done to date in the operations research community to improve patient access. Broadly speaking methods for improving patient access can be broken into the management of “within day” scheduling (determining start times for a sequence of n appointments) and “advanced scheduling” (determining the optimal number of days to book in advance). We provide an overview of the research to date in both streams focusing on the variety of applications that have been explored and the methodologies that have been applied. We present policy implications based on current research as well as the gaps in research that point to where additional work remains to be done.

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