The performance of single-server queues with independent interarrival intervals and service demands is well understood, and often analytically tractable. In particular, the M/M/1 queue has been thoroughly studied, due to its analytical tractability. Little is known, though, when autocorrelation...

This paper provides the expected waiting time of a nonsymmetric cyclic server queueing system with Poisson traffic, arbitrary switchover and arbitrary service times. For n the number of queues, the expected waiting time is obtained using n equations which is a significant improvement over the...

In the early 1990s, research began to show that the Japanese production theory, which espouses reduction of machine setup time as a sure way to improve production performance, may be limited. Specifically, it was found that reduction in mean setup times without any change in variance can,...

This paper analyzes the impact of type of insurance, income, and reason for appointment on waiting time for an appointment and waiting time in the physician’s practice in the out- patient sector. Data were obtained from a German patient survey conducted between 2007 and 2009. We differentiated...

Cost sharing represent a well-established tool for the control of health care demand in many Oecd countries, even though it is used with caution, and in combination with other instruments, in order to avoid potential negative impacts on access to essential health care services. Waiting lists and...

This paper studies how congestion in the public health sector can be used as a redistributive tool. In our model, agents differ in income and they can obtain a health service either from a congested public hospital or from a non congested private one at a higher price. With pure in-kind...

Many countries of the world are now promoting themselves as international medical centres and attracting patients from across the globe. With competition in medical tourism intensifying further, India must conquer a share of the international medical services market to stay in the competition....

A health policy reform aiming to reduce hospital waiting times and sickness absences, the Faster Return to Work (FRW) scheme, is evaluated by creating treatment and control groups to facilitate causal interpretations of the empirical results. We use a unique dataset on individuals where we match...

The level and distribution of patient waiting times for elective treatment is a major concern in publicly funded health care systems. Strict targets, which have specified maximum waiting times, have been introduced in the NHS over the last decade and have been criticised for distorting existing...