Optimal sharing of surgical costs in the presence of queues

We deal with a cost-allocation problem arising from sharing a medical service in the presence of queues. We use a standard queuing theory model in a context of several medical procedures, a certain demand for treatment and a maximum average waiting-time guaranteed by the government. We show that the sharing of an operating-theatre to treat patients of different medical disciplines leads to a cost reduction. We then compute an optimal fee per procedure for the use of the operating theatre, based on the Shapley value. Afterwards, considering the recovery time, we characterize the conditions under which the co-operation among treatments has a positive impact on the post-operative costs. Finally, a numerical example, constructed on the basis of real data, is provided to highlight the main features of our model. Copyright Springer-Verlag 2004