Project plan

Author

Witek ten Hove

Published

October 7, 2022

Overall goal

Today annual Healthcare expenses in the Netherlands amount to 13% of GDP and are exceeding the budgets for Education, Defense and Justice added together (Ministerie van Volksgezondheid 2022). According to current figures one in seven persons employed works in the Healthcare sector. Projections are that without any change in policies this proportion could reach one in three over the next 40 years.

One of the factors causing the expanding costs of Healthcare is the comparatively low productivity of the sector. Healthcare is typically labor intensive and human interaction is an essential element of service quality. Until now the complexity of tasks limited possibilities for automation. However, with the recent wave of technological innovation new opportunities are arising, especially in the category of facilitating technologies (Visser et al. 2021).

Two categories of healthcare technologies (Visser et al. 2021)

“Indeed, there is arguably little value to home health care in further improvement of models and solution methods without greater attention given to challenges to implementation,” (Grieco, Utley, and Crowe 2021)

The overall goal of this research project is to add to the development of technological solutions for improving Healthcare efficiency and quality using Operations Research methodologies with special attention paid to the applicability in the real-world.

Targets

4 scientific papers:
- Outpatient appointment scheduling algorithm
- Capacity planning modeling for home care services
- Paper 3
- Paper 4
Attend at least 4 conferences
Review at least 5 papers
Develop teaching material

Budget and financing

Projected time frame: 09-2022 till 09-2026
The time frame will be reviewed at 09-24 and adjusted on the basis of gained experience
Total budgeted time: 0.6 FTE
Financing:
- 0.2 FTE -> HAN Bedrijfskunde
- 0.2 FTE -> HAN Lectoraat Logistiek en Allianties
- 0.2 FTE -> Personal investment

Planning

gantt
    dateFormat  YYYY-MM
    title       Timeline
    axisFormat  %b %y

    section Research
    Outpatient Appointment Scheduling (OAS):active, pap1, 2022-09, 2023-09
    Home Care Planning (HCP)               :active, pap2, 2022-09, 2023-05
    Paper 3                                :        pap3, 2023-06, 2024-02
    Paper 4                                :        pap4, 2024-03, 2024-12
    Additional research, Thesis            :        thes,  2025-01, 2026-10
    
    
    section Learning and
development
    Probability/Markov Chains              :active, lnd1, 2022-09, 2022-12
    Simulation techniques                  :        lnd2, after lnd1, 90d
    Conference 1                    :        lnd3, 2023-01, 4d
    Conference 2                    :        lnd4, 2024-01, 4d
    Conference 3                    :        lnd5, 2025-01, 4d
    Conference 4                    :        lnd6, 2026-01, 4d
    
    section Other
activities
    Onboarding research project                     :active, oth1, 2022-09, 2022-10
    Setup research and development
environments  :active, oth2, 2022-09, 2022-10
    Review Tuncalp e.a.                             :active, oth3, 2022-10, 2022-12
    Review 2                                        :        oth4, after oth3, 360d
    Review 3                                        :        oth5, after oth4, 360d
    Review 4                                        :        oth6, after oth5, 360d
    Review 5                                        :        oth7, after oth6, 320d
    Develop teaching material                       :active, oth8, 2022-09, 2026-10
    Review budget                                   :crit, oth9, 2024-09, 30d

Work packages

Month	Work packages	Results	Time allocation
September	General: Onboarding Research project Setup Research and Dev environments Learn Markov Chains Outpatient Appointment Scheduling (OAS): Literature review Home Care Planning (HCP): Assess current status of data analysis and develop plan of action Discuss results with Carinova	General: Hora Finita, Training Plan Research and dev environments (Overleaf, Zotero, RStudio, etc.) Notes Markov Chains OAS: Working paper OAS with literature review HCP: Presentation data analysis	General / OAS / HCP: 60 / 20 /20
October	General: Learn Markov Chains OAS: Review methods (e.g. Surrogate Models, Response Survey Models) HCP: Complete data analysis Complete introduction section paper	General: Notes Markov Chains OAS: Working paper OAS with model description HCP: Data analysis results Working paper OAS with introduction, literature review, methodology	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 40 /40
November	General: Study activities OAS: Develop and test selected algorithms HCP: Complete analysis supply side	General: Notes Markov Chains OAS: Code HCP: Results analysis supply side	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 50 /30
December	General: Study activities OAS: Develop and test selected algorithms HCP: Complete paper Submit paper	General: Notes Markov Chains OAS: Code HCP: Submitted paper	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 50 /30

September

General:

Onboarding Research project
Setup Research and Dev environments
Learn Markov Chains

Outpatient Appointment Scheduling (OAS):

Literature review

Home Care Planning (HCP):

Assess current status of data analysis and develop plan of action
Discuss results with Carinova

General:

Hora Finita, Training Plan
Research and dev environments (Overleaf, Zotero, RStudio, etc.)
Notes Markov Chains

OAS:

Working paper OAS with literature review

HCP:

Presentation data analysis

General / OAS / HCP:

60 / 20 /20

October

General:

Learn Markov Chains

OAS:

Review methods (e.g. Surrogate Models, Response Survey Models)

HCP:

Complete data analysis
Complete introduction section paper

General:

Notes Markov Chains

OAS:

Working paper OAS with model description

HCP:

Data analysis results
Working paper OAS with introduction, literature review, methodology

General / OAS / HCP:

20 / 40 /40

November

General:

Study activities

OAS:

Develop and test selected algorithms

HCP:

Complete analysis supply side

General:

Notes Markov Chains

OAS:

Code

HCP:

Results analysis supply side

General / OAS / HCP:

20 / 50 /30

December

General:

Study activities

OAS:

Develop and test selected algorithms

HCP:

Complete paper
Submit paper

General:

Notes Markov Chains

OAS:

Code

HCP:

Submitted paper

General / OAS / HCP:

20 / 50 /30

Month	Work packages	Results	Time allocation
January	General: Develop teaching material Study activities OAS: Write paper HCP: Wait for review	General: Teaching material Simulation techniques OAS: Working paper HCP: None	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 80 /0
February	General: Develop teaching material Study activities OAS: Write paper HCP: Wait for review	General: Teaching material Simulation techniques OAS: Working paper HCP: None	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 80 /0
March	General: Develop teaching material Study activities OAS: Complete paper Submit paper HCP: Wait for review	General: Teaching material Simulation techniques OAS: Submitted paper HCP: None	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 80 /0
April	General: Develop teaching material OAS: Wait for review HCP: Process feedback	General: Teaching material OAS: None HCP: Reviewed paper	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 0 /80
May	General: Develop teaching material OAS: Wait for review HCP: Resubmit reviewed paper	General: Teaching material OAS: None HCP: Final version paper	General / OAS / HCP: 20 / 0 /80
June	General: Develop teaching material Explore new research topics OAS: Wait for review	General: Teaching material Research suggestions OAS: None	General / OAS 100 / 0
July	General: Develop teaching material Explore new research topics OAS: Process feedback	General: Teaching material Research suggestions OAS: Reviewed paper	General / OAS 20 / 80
August	Holiday	Holiday	Holiday
September	General: Develop teaching material Choose new research topic OAS: Resubmit reviewed paper	General: Teaching material New research topic OAS: Final version paper	General / OAS 20 / 80
October
November
December

Month	Work packages	Results	Time allocation
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September	Budget review
October
November
December

Month	Work packages	Results	Time allocation
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Month	Work packages	Results	Time allocation
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Month	Work packages	Results	Time allocation
January
February
March
April
April
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

References

Grieco, Luca, Martin Utley, and Sonya Crowe. 2021. “Operational Research Applied to Decisions in Home Health Care: A Systematic Literature Review.” Journal of the Operational Research Society 72 (9): 1960–91. https://doi.org/10.1080/01605682.2020.1750311.

Ministerie van Volksgezondheid, Welzijn en Sport. 2022. “Verregaande Samenwerking in Historisch Integraal Zorgakkoord - Nieuwsbericht - Rijksoverheid.nl.” Nieuwsbericht. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/actueel/nieuws/2022/09/16/verregaande-samenwerking-in-historisch-integraal-zorgakkoord.

Visser, M. de, Arnoud W. A. Boot, G. D. A. Werner, Arthur van Riel, and Mérove Isabelle Léontine Gijsberts. 2021. Kiezen Voor Houdbare Zorg: Mensen, Middelen En Maatschappelijk Draagvlak. Den Haag: Wetenschappelijke Raad voor het Regeringsbeleid.