Maximal covering location with partial coverage for second-level specialized health care services

Abstract

The lack of access to Second-level Health Care Services (SHCS) in developing countries is primarily due to the scarcity of facilities and the limited investment of resources in the public sector. Access to these services directly relates to the distance the population travels to these facilities. In that sense, a maximal covering location problem can be helpful to maximize the impact of decisions related to the location of new SHCS. In this paper, we propose a model to guide the location of additional sites where second-level services can be installed in a network of public hospitals. The partial coverage and variable radius are considered in the problem to assess a large territory with different characteristics and population densities. The system is composed of multiple institutions that supply differentiated varying levels of coverage concerning their own demand and external demand. The objective of the problem is to improve the demand coverage in the system by locating new sites, since there are already sites offering different services. A case study in the Mexican public health system is conducted to assess four specialized SHCS. The obtained results evidence for the benefit of using optimization tools in the resource planning of SHCS.