题　目：Reducing Patient Tardiness: From Experiment to Implementation

嘉　宾：张世晨  助理教授  南开大学商学院

主持人：魏煊  副教授  上海交通大学安泰经济与管理学院

时　间：2024年03月11日（周一）13:00-14:30

地　点：上海交通大学 徐汇校区安泰经济与管理学院A305

内容简介:

Patient tardiness is a significant operational challenge for healthcare facilities worldwide, undermining the efficiency of appointment scheduling systems and complicating queue management. However, research on effective strategies to mitigate patient tardiness and promote punctuality remains limited. Addressing this gap, we conducted a randomized control trial involving 9,573 patient visits in collaboration with an Asian hospital to explore the effectiveness of late penalties in reducing patient tardiness and enhancing compliance with recommended arrival times. In particular, we study the impact of two penalty types: last-place penalty (i.e., shifting late patients to the end of the queue) and fixed-place penalty (i.e., shifting late patients to a fixed number of places backward) under conditions of no recommendation versus explicit time recommendation. We find that the fixed-place penalty does not significantly affect patient tardiness. Conversely, the last-place penalty significantly reduces patients’ late rate and encourages earlier arrival, especially in the absence of time recommendation, suggesting its effectiveness as a practical tool against late arrivals. When combined with a time recommendation, the last-place penalty still significantly reduces late rate but does not effectively encourage earlier arrival, while it does improve compliance with recommended arrival times. We further implemented the last-place penalty in the partner hospital across a broader dataset involving 61,829 visits, yielding consistent results. This comprehensive approach, blending field experiments with empirical analysis, confirms the effectiveness and scalability of the last-place penalty to reduce patient tardiness, offering valuable insights for healthcare policy implementation aimed at managing patient behavior and improving appointment operational efficiency.

演讲人简介：

Shichen Zhang is currently an Assistant Professor in Business School at Nankai University. Her research interests focus on human-AI interaction, B2B procurement, and supply chain management. Her articles have been accepted by journals such as Management Science, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Decision Sciences, European Journal of Operational Research, Omega, and International Journal of Production Economics.

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