By Iva Rashkova, Washington University in St Louis, USA, irashkova@wustl.edu
This work examines budget allocation decisions in public health within the framework of the Global Fund’s financing for HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria programs. We first develop a model for donors to allocate budgets between public and private distribution channels to optimize treatment outcomes and propose a modified greedy heuristic. We then present a model for grant recipients to allocate budgets among various disease-specific health products and propose an index heuristic. Numerical evaluations of these heuristics demonstrate their significant impact on system outcomes and superior performance compared to benchmark policies.
Lessons from the Pandemic for Healthcare Operations delves into the lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic that can be applied to the post-pandemic world to enhance efficiency, equity, and fairness in healthcare operations. It emphasizes the importance of preparedness in combating future pandemics or public health disasters, regardless of when or where they may occur. This work offers a unique perspective through which to view the evolving outlines of healthcare delivery, policy, and research. This is illustrated using several real-world experiences, empirical studies, and forward-looking insights. The contributions fall under three broad themes: the management of policies and funding in healthcare, the role of data and data-driven research, and accessible healthcare services during and after the pandemic.
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Foundations and Trends® in Technology, Information and Operations Management, Volume 19, Issue 2-3 Special Issue: Lessons from the Pandemic for Healthcare Operations
See the other articles that are also part of this special issue.