Healthcare access

Identifying Regions Vulnerable to Obstetric Unit Closures using Facility Location Modeling with Patient Behavior

  • Meghan Meredith
  • Lauren Steimle
    • Categories Applications - OR and Management Sciences Tags , , , ,

    Limited geographic access to obstetric care prevents some pregnant people from receiving timely and risk-appropriate services. This challenge is especially acute in rural areas, where rural residents often travel far distances to obstetric care. Furthermore, obstetric access is worsening due to the growing number of closures of rural hospitals’ obstetric units, often due to financial … Read more

    Paving the Way for More Accessible Cancer Care in Low-Income Countries with Optimization

  • Abel Sapirstein
  • Lauren Steimle
  • Mathieu Dahan
    • Categories Applications - OR and Management Sciences Tags , , , , ,

    Cancers are a growing cause of morbidity and mortality in low-income countries. Geographic access plays a key role in both timely diagnosis and successful treatment. In areas lacking well-developed road networks, seasonal weather events can lengthen already long travel times to access care. Expanding facilities to offer cancer care is expensive and requires staffing by … Read more