Population aging is a global challenge, leading to increased demand for healthcare and social services for the elderly. Home Health Care (HHC) emerges as a vital solution, specifically designed to serve this population segment. Given the surging demand for HHC, it's essential to coordinate and regulate caregiver allocation efficiently. This is crucial for both budget-optimized planning and ensuring the delivery of high-quality care. This research addresses a key question faced by home health agencies (HHAs): "How can caregiver allocation be optimized, especially when caregivers prefer flexibility in their visiting sequences?". While earlier studies proposed rigid visiting sequences, our study introduces a decision support framework that allocates caregivers through a hybrid method that considers the flexibility in visiting sequences and aims to reduce travel mileage, increase the number of visits per planning period, and maintain the continuity of care - a critical metric for patient satisfaction. Utilizing data from an HHA in Tennessee, United States, our approach led to an impressive reduction in average travel mileage (up to 42% depending on discipline) without imposing restrictions on caregivers. Furthermore, the proposed framework is used for caregivers' supply analysis to provide valuable insights into caregiver resource management.

通过考虑到访顺序的灵活性，优化照护人员分配，以减少旅行里程、增加每个计划周期的访问次数并保持持续的护理连贯性来提高患者满意度。

家庭医疗护理人员分配的决策支持框架：田纳西州家庭医疗护理机构的案例研究