Abstract:
As human diseases are getting more complex, the need for medical specialist consultation is more pronounced. This study aims to identify potential factors for medical specialist allocation and to construct allocation models using a multi-objective programing approach to all demand sites within the Bangkok Dusit Medical Services (BDMS) network. Our study included 13 medical specialist types in 4 main disease groups. There were 2 phases in our study. In the first phase we performed four rounds of survey with BDMS executives to analyze the factors that will influence the medical specialist allocation. In the second phase we formulated 4 Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) models by using inputs from Delphi survey of executives, the physician engagement survey and physician registry databases conducted in 2015. The models feature 3 objectives: (1) minimizing travel expense, (2) optimizing physician engagement, and (3) Providing proper quality of care. Thirty five factors were considered potential determinants of medical specialist allocation. For input parameters of the LP model, we focused on six factors that hospital executives give high ranking in their opinions. These were Health Need of Population, Organization's Mission, Organization's Hoshin, Organization's Strategy, Severity and Complexity of Patient Condition. It was found that the more the requirements, the less the capability of the model to solve for medical specialist allocation. The model should then be as most flexible as possible to succeed the allocation process in all areas. We hope that this preliminary study would stimulate further research in healthcare management of similar nature for both private and public sectors