Two Constructive Algorithms to Address a Multi-Depot Home Healthcare Routing Problem

Abstract

Nowadays, there is a great deal of attention about the care of aging population. This motivates the home healthcare services to provide nursing and general hygiene cares at patient home for elderly persons in a situation of dependency. The routing decisions of caregivers to specify the assignment of patients and their sequence for visits are very important for related companies to reduce the transportation costs. Hence, this study proposes a novel multi-depot home healthcare routing model with the supposition of controlling the overall distance. Another contribution of this research is to propose two simple constructive algorithms to solve the developed problem. Finally, results confirm the efficiency of the second developed algorithm as well as the performance of the proposed model during different problem complexities.

KEYWORDS:

• Caregivers
• Constructive algorithm
• Home healthcare
• Multi-depot routing problem
• Transportation cost

SUPPLEMENTAL DATA AND RESEARCH MATERIALS

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1080/03772063.2019.1642802.

Notes

1 https://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/japans-greatest-challenge-its-not-china-massive-population-16212.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Soraya Bahadori-Chinibelagh

Soraya Bahadori-Chinibelagh was born and raised in Tehran, Iran. She earned her BSc degree in industrial engineering from University of Semnan-Ivanaki, Semnan, Iran (2014). She also received her MSc degree in industrial engineering from Shomal University, Amol, Iran (2016). Email: [email protected]

Amir Mohammad Fathollahi-Fard

Amir Mohammad Fathollahi-Fard was born and raised in Sari, Iran. He received his degrees of BSc (2016) and MSc (2018) in industrial engineering from University of Science & Technology of Mazandaran, Behshahr, Iran. He is currently a PhD candidate in industrial engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. The main focus of his research is in the area of healthcare management, supply chain management, green and sustainable logistics.

Mostafa Hajiaghaei-Keshteli

Mostafa Hajiaghaei-Keshteli was born and raised in Babol, Iran. He earned his BSc from Iran University of Science & Technology, Tehran, Iran (2004); MSc from University of Science & Culture, Tehran, Iran (2006); and PhD from Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran-Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran (2012); all in industrial engineering. He is currently an assistant professor in industrial engineering at University of Science & Technology of Mazandaran, Behshar, Iran. The main focus of his research is in the area of supply chain network, transportation and metaheuristics. Email: [email protected]