Home health care routing and scheduling: A review. (January 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fikar, Christian; Hirsch, Patrick
• Is Part Of: Computers & operations research. Volume 77(2017)
• Page Start: 86
• Page End: 95
• Publication Date: 2017-01
• Subjects: Home health care -- Vehicle routing -- Nurse scheduling -- Operations research; Operations research -- Periodicals; Electronic digital computers -- Periodicals; 004.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.cor.2016.07.019
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0305-0548

Abstract

Abstract: In home health care (HHC) operations, nurses are scheduled and routed to perform various services at clients' homes. As this often requires a combination of vehicle routing and scheduling approaches, resulting optimization problems are complex and, hence, of high interest to stakeholders such as researchers, practitioners and policy-makers. With demand for HHC expected to increase substantially, future work is essential to decrease costs and to guarantee service quality. In this review, we provide a comprehensive overview of current work in the field of HHC routing and scheduling with a focus on considered problem settings. Recent advances in HHC optimization are highlighted and future research directions discussed. Abstract : Graphical abstract: Abstract : Highlights: This review investigates recent work on home health care routing and scheduling. A comprehensive overview with a focus on considered problem settings is given. Single-period and multi-period problems are differentiated. Results highlight a heterogeneous research field of public interest. Recent advances and future research directions are discussed.