EURO 2024 Copenhagen
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2360. Operational planning of medical vehicle routes

Invited abstract in session MA-10: EMS logistics, stream OR in Health Services (ORAHS).

Monday, 8:30-10:00
Room: 11 (building: 116)

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Nicolas Blandamour
Sia AI

Abstract

Medical transport is increasingly important in ensuring access to care for patients unable to travel independently. The patient transport business comprises many aspects in which optimization needs can arise. For example, it could benefit from optimized vehicle routes, improved and more reliable access to patient care, and improved working conditions for ambulance drivers thanks to more predictable schedules.

This presentation will detail an industrial application developed by Hexaly for a French leading healthcare company. This tool optimizes the operational planning of non-emergency patient transport carried out the following day.

The problem consists in assigning vehicles to employees and creating mission rounds for each employee. The underlying optimization problem is related to the Dial-A-Ride Problem. Indeed, one of the key features of non-emergency patient transport is the possibility of transporting several people in the same vehicle at the same time. Employees’ schedules are also subject to numerous contractual and regulatory constraints such as breaks.

A typical dataset of the problem corresponds to a daily volume of 500 missions to be planned, with around 50 employees and vehicles available.

The optimization tool based on Hexaly Optimizer brought significant gains when it moved into production. The quality of the employee schedules and vehicle tours has improved, with gains of around 10% in terms of revenue per hour and distance traveled.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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