A location-routing problem within blood sample collection chains

Amir Elalouf, Dmitry Tsadikovich, Eugene Levner

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

We focus on improving a two-echelon blood sample collection chain with an application for MEUHEDET, the second largest health maintenance organization (HMO) in Israel. The effectiveness of the chain is influenced by two contradictory factors: (a) how many clinics should be activated to satisfy all customers' demand and (b) how many vehicles should be employed to deliver the collected samples to the testing lab in time and in a cost-effective manner. Determining the optimal balance between these two aspects while satisfying timing and quality constraints constitute the main focus of our work. To find a solution, a novel approach based on a combination of the vehicle routing heuristic with the fully polynomial time approximation scheme (FPTAS) is developed.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2018 5th International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies, CoDIT 2018
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages488-491
Number of pages4
ISBN (Electronic)9781538650653
DOIs
StatePublished - 22 Jun 2018
Event5th International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies, CoDIT 2018 - Thessaloniki, Greece
Duration: 10 Apr 201813 Apr 2018

Publication series

Name2018 5th International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies, CoDIT 2018

Conference

Conference5th International Conference on Control, Decision and Information Technologies, CoDIT 2018
Country/TerritoryGreece
CityThessaloniki
Period10/04/1813/04/18

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 IEEE.

Funding

* This work was supported by grant 135/2012 from the Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research.

FundersFunder number
Israel National Institute for Health Policy Research

    Keywords

    • FPTAS
    • blood samples collection
    • healthcare supply chains
    • optimization.

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