2651. Improving Healthcare Accessibility in Rural Regions: An application of Self-serve Pharmacy Kiosks
Invited abstract in session TA-23: Community OR, stream OR for Societal Development.
Tuesday, 8:30-10:00Room: Esther Simpson 3.01
Authors (first author is the speaker)
| 1. | Gohram Baloch
|
| Beedie School of Business, Simon Fraser University |
Abstract
In recent years, self-serve Kiosks have been widely adopted in the healthcare industry to improve healthcare access, streamline processes, and reduce wait times. In this presentation, we explore the application of self-serve pharmacy kiosks in enhancing healthcare access in rural regions. We model the problem as a location-inventory problem to make optimal location and inventory decisions that minimize customer travel distances in the presence of both brick-and-mortar pharmacy and self-serve kiosks. Customer choice is modeled through a multinomial logit (MNL) framework, where the utility they derive from a specific kiosk location depends on expected travel distance, which in turn is influenced by the kiosk’s fill rate. Operational scenarios where these kiosks improve healthcare accessibility are presented.
Keywords
- Network Design
- Health Care
- Location
Status: accepted
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