Coordination of Autonomous Healthcare Entities: Emergency Response to Multiple Casualty Incidents

Production and Operations Management 27(1):184–205.

Kelley School of Business Research Paper No. 16-79

Posted: 2 Nov 2016 Last revised: 20 Jan 2018

See all articles by Alex Mills

Alex Mills

Baruch College Zicklin School of Business

Jonathan Helm

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Operation & Decision Technologies

Andres F. Jola-Sanchez

Texas A&M University - Mays Business School

Mohan V. Tatikonda

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Operation & Decision Technologies

Bobby Courtney

Fairbanks School of Public Health

Date Written: January 2018

Abstract

In recent years, many urban areas have established healthcare coalitions composed of autonomous (and often competing) hospitals, with the goal of improving emergency preparedness and response. We study the role of such coalitions in the specific context of response to multiple-casualty incidents in an urban setting, where on-scene responders must determine how to send casualties to medical facilities. A key function in incident response is multi-agency coordination. When this coordination is provided by a healthcare coalition, responders can use richer information about hospital capacities to decide where to send casualties. Using bed availability data from an urban area and a suburban area in the United States, we analyze the response capability of healthcare infrastructures under different levels of coordination, and we develop a stress test to identify areas of weakness. We find that improved coordination efforts should focus on decision support using information about inpatient resources, especially in urban areas with high inter-hospital variability in resource availability. We also find that coordination has the largest benefit in small incidents.This benefit is a new value proposition for healthcare coalitions, which were originally formed to improve preparedness for large disasters.

Keywords: Healthcare, decision support, coordination, emergency response

Suggested Citation

Mills, Alex and Helm, Jonathan and Jola-Sanchez, Andres F. and Tatikonda, Mohan V. and Courtney, Bobby, Coordination of Autonomous Healthcare Entities: Emergency Response to Multiple Casualty Incidents (January 2018). Production and Operations Management 27(1):184–205. , Kelley School of Business Research Paper No. 16-79, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2863092 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2863092

Alex Mills (Contact Author)

Baruch College Zicklin School of Business ( email )

55 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10010
United States

Jonathan Helm

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Operation & Decision Technologies ( email )

Business 670
1309 E. Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47401
United States

Andres F. Jola-Sanchez

Texas A&M University - Mays Business School ( email )

College Station, TX 77843-4218
United States

Mohan V. Tatikonda

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Operation & Decision Technologies ( email )

Business 670
1309 E. Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47401
United States

Bobby Courtney

Fairbanks School of Public Health ( email )

1050 Wishard Blvd.
Indianapolis, IN 46202
United States

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