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ABSTRACTIn this paper we present a general model and solution methodology for planning resource requirements (i.e., capacity) in health care organizations. To illustrate the general model, we consider two specific applications: a blood bank and a health maintenance organization (HMO). The blood bank capacity planning problem involves determining the number of donor beds required and determining the size of the nursing and support staff necessary. Capacity must be sufficient to handle the expected number of blood donors without causing excessive donor waiting times. Similar staff, equipment, and service level decisions arise in the HMO capacity planning problem. To determine resource requirements, we develop an optimization/queueing network model that minimizes capacity costs while controlling customer service by enforcing a set of performance constraints, such as setting an upper limit on the expected time a patient spends in the system. The queueing network model allows us to capture the stochastic behavior of health care systems and to measure customer service levels within the optimization framework.

Since 1898, when the United States acquired possession of the Philippines from Spain, both sides have characterized relations with the other as "special." As with other characterizations of this type, "special relationship" has meant different things at different times. This article will attempt to chip away some of the encrustation that has accumulated upon this term over the years, at least in the economic sphere, and to see what this special economic relationship should mean in the world of the mid-1960's. In the early period of United States administration of the Philippines, the special relationship could perhaps be said to have been motivated by a paternal instinct and an inarticulated but real sense of national mission. While at the outset, the stated intention was to prepare the country for independence, progress along this road was slow in the early years. After World War I, empires began to go out of style, and American attitudes began to be shaped by Wilsonian principles of self-determination. This new philosophy prodded the national conscience further into taking steps to make the Philippines independent. Japanese occupation of the islands during World War II and the joint American-Filipino efforts to win them back added a new facet to the special relationship-a spirit of allied partnership striving for a common goal. Upon independence, the Philippines, responding to assurances given by the United States during the war, looked to Washington for assistance in rebuilding its devastated economy. This search for help was again to shape the relationship. Today, the character of the special relationship, at least from the United States' point of view, is probably a potpourri of all American earlier attitudes towards the Philippines-paternal feelings, conscience, gratitude and moral obligations.

"February 1975." ; Includes bibliographical references (p. [31]-32). ; Mode of access: Internet.