ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews healthcare problems analyzed in the operations management literature. It discusses the healthcare problems in the operations management literature from top to bottom management: strategic, tactical and operational. The chapter presents discussion about the research and future research directions in the healthcare industry. It explores the healthcare problems studied in the literature from strategic to tactical and operational levels. The chapter describes the implications for healthcare manager and research opportunities in healthcare industry. Strategic level decisions translate the corporate strategy and mission into the design and development of healthcare systems. Healthcare decision-makers’ goals are minimization of patient waiting time or resource overtime and maximization of resource utilization. In practice, the key issue in appointment scheduling is to balance patient waiting time and resource waiting time. Operational level decisions address short-term decision-making in execution of healthcare delivery processes.
