EURO 2025 Leeds
Abstract Submission

563. Optimizing Caregiver Allocation and Island-Based Distribution in Home Care Services with Changing Demand

Invited abstract in session WA-20: Topics in Combinatorial Optimization 3, stream Combinatorial Optimization.

Wednesday, 8:30-10:00
Room: Esther Simpson 2.11

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Jésica de Armas
Universitat Pompeu Fabra
2. Ana Raquel Pena de Aguiar
Business and Economics, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

Abstract

In the field of home care, a pioneering strategy involves partitioning a city into subareas, usually termed islands, to heighten the quality and personalization of cares. Each island is entrusted with a dedicated team of home care services.

The challenge lies in determining the optimal number of caregivers and working schedule (full or part time), considering variable demand for home services across islands and over the planning horizon. We propose a dual caregiver approach for Barcelona home care services: exclusive island caregivers and caregivers with flexibility to work in multiple islands. The latter must be as small as possible, and allows to cushion the variability in demand. Service managers operate within personnel hiring budget, which may lead to unmet demand hours. The primary objective is to optimize caregiver hiring within budget constraints, minimizing unmet service hours. This poses a strategic problem, compounded by potential benefits of merging islands for improved planning.

We present a Mixed-Integer Linear Programming model determining exclusive and floating team size and composition, along with necessary island mergers. This enables fulfilling maximum demand while maintaining fixed team stability. Our model facilitates valuable analyses, exploring factors such as maximum team size impact, budget impact, potential of merging islands or team stability in planning horizons with different kind of scenarios with variable demand.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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