Two-stage matching decision-making method in medical service supply chain

Abstract

ABSTRACT Medical service matching between suppliers and demanders should be emphasised. The supply chain promotes the development of practical matching decision-making methods. However, little is known about the general approaches used to explore matching problems in the context of medical service supply chain management. We put forward an effective two-stage matching decision-making method, including a grouping model and a matching model, that considers patient similarity and bilateral preferences. The grouping model is constructed based on the similarity matrix of patients. Next, specific rules are employed to calculate the integrated preference difference values between patients and doctors. The two-stage matching method considering bilateral preferences is then presented. Finally, a case study is conducted on an online health platform to verify the proposed method.