Capacity planning in service operations: the case of hospital outpatient facilities.
This paper presents models that may be used to balance service capacity and demand in situations in which demand is external and, therefore, is not fixed but may fluctuate in response to factors that include the waiting time imposed upon customers. Such situations are common in retailing, financial services, health services, and other service sector industries. An application is shown to a hospital outpatient facility.
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D003361:Cost Allocation / Q000379:methods; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand / Q000191:economics*; D006302:Health Services Research / Q000191:economics*; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013995:Time; D014850:Waiting Lists