Sharing service in healthcare systems: A recent survey

Abstract

Innovation in the sharing economy continues to thrive within healthcare systems. Emerging internet platforms and traditional hospitals/alliances have created diverse healthcare sharing scenarios, integrating a wide range of dispersed specialized medical resources to provide more convenient and efficient solutions to meet diverse demands. We adopt a classification framework based on staff, supplies, information, and alliances, guided by the concepts and scenarios of healthcare sharing. We mainly review research issues in the fields of operations management and information systems over the past decade, encompassing service pricing and matching, patient flow management, inventory management, multiple resources scheduling and allocation, network and mechanism design, quality evaluation, technology impact and cost-effectiveness analysis. Combining the advancements of digital intelligence technology and the evolution of healthcare sharing modes, we present some new problems, scenarios, and approaches, which offer potential opportunities for future research.