Abstract
With “good health and well-being” being set as one of the targets of the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), this paper proposes the application of pinch analysis, a quantitative method originally applied to conserve scarce resources in source-demand allocation networks, for identifying gaps in health care service delivery. This method is also found to be useful for health care infrastructure capacity planning and policy testing. The major contribution of this method in this context is identification of marginalized sections and testing specific policies targeted towards them, which will justify release of financial aid and infrastructure development for appropriate sections. We explored this concept for investigating the in-patient health care delivery system in the context of developing nations, where the health care facilities (both public and private) thrive by offering services at drastically different prices. A novel framework is developed in this paper, supported by a case study of Kolkata, India where both the gaps and surplus in the health care services faced by different sections of population are identified. In order to offset these gaps, we offer recommendations for possible policy implementation. A few hypothetical scenarios are also examined in order to understand the importance of pinch analysis for policy testing. We conclude by proving that pinch analysis can be a robust integrated decision-making framework for the health care sector, especially in resource-constrained communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alves JJ, Towler GP (2002) Analysis of refinery hydrogen distribution Systems. Ind Eng Chem Res 41(23):5759–5769. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie010558v
Balarajan Y, Selvaraj S, Subramanian SV (2011) Health care and equity in India. Lancet 377(9764):505–515. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(10)61894-6
Baltussen R, Niessen L (2006) Priority setting of health interventions: the need for multi-criteria decision analysis. Cost Eff Resour Allocation 4(1):14. https://doi.org/10.1186/1478–7547–4-14
Bandyopadhyay S (2011) Design and optimization of isolated energy systems through pinch analysis. Asia Pac J Chem Eng 6(3):518–526
Bandyopadhyay S (2015) Mathematical foundation of Pinch Analysis. Chem Eng Trans 45:1753–1758. https://doi.org/10.3303/CET1545293
Bandyopadhyay S, Malik RK, Shenoy UV (1999) Invariant rectifying-stripping curves for targeting minimum energy and feed location in distillation. Comput Chem Eng 23(8):1109–1124. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0098-1354(99)00277-X
Basu R (2010) Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana: Pioneering public-private partnership in health insurance. New Deli
Basu R, Jana A, Bardhan R (2016) A health care facility allocation model for expanding cities in developing nations: strategizing urban health policy implementation. Appl Spat Anal Policy 1–16. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12061-016-9208-0
Basu R, Aggarwal R, Jana A (2017) An Integrated Framework for Allocation of New Emergency Response Facilities in Developing Nations. Process Integr Optim Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-017-0009-y
Denton B T (2013) Handbook of healthcare operations management. Springer
Devadasan N, Seshadri T, Trivedi M, Criel B (2013) Promoting universal financial protection: evidence from the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana (RSBY) in Gujarat, India. Health Res Policy Syst 11(1):29
Diamante JAR, Tan RR, Foo DCY, Ng DKS, Aviso KB, Bandyopadhyay S (2014) Unified pinch approach for targeting of carbon capture and storage (CCS) systems with multiple time periods and regions. J Clean Prod 71:67–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2013.11.027
DoHS (2014) Health on the March 2013–14. West Bengal, India: Retrieved from http://www.wbhealth.gov.in/
El-Halwagi MM, Manousiouthakis V (1989) Synthesis of mass exchange networks. AICHE J 35(8):1233–1244
Ellis RP, Moneer A, Gupta I (2000) Health Insurance in India: Prognosis and Prospectus. Econ Polit Wkly 35(4):207–217
Escobar M-L, Griffin C C, Shaw R P (eds.) (2011) The impact of health insurance in low-and middle-income countries. Brookings Institution Press
Evans JR, Hall KL, Warford J (1981) Health Care in the Developing World: Problems of Scarcity and Choice. N Engl J Med 305(19):1117–1127. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJM198111053051904
Filmer D, Hammer JS, Pritchett LH (2000) Weak links in the chain: a diagnosis of health policy in poor countries. World Bank Res Obs 15(2):199–224
Gouws JF, Majozi T, Foo DCY, Chen C-L, Lee J-Y (2010) Water Minimization Techniques for Batch Processes. Ind Eng Chem Res 49(19):8877–8893. https://doi.org/10.1021/ie100130a
Green LV (2004) Capacity planning and management in hospitals. In: Brandeau ML, Sainfort F, Pierskalla WP (eds) Operations Research and Health Care: A Handbook of Methods and Applications. Springer US, Boston, pp 15–41
Hohmann ECJ (1972) Optimum networks for heat exchange, Ph.D. Thesis, University ofSouthern California, USA
Hulshof PJH, Boucherie RJ, van Essen JT, Hans EW, Hurink JL, Kortbeek N, Zonderland ME (2011) ORchestra: an online reference database of OR/MS literature in health care. Health Care Manag Sci 14(4):383–384. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10729-011-9169-4
IRDAI (2015) Annual Report 2014–15. Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India. New Delhi, India. Retrieved from https://www.irdai.gov.in/ADMINCMS/cms/frmGeneral_NoYearList.aspx?DF=AR&mid=11.1
Jana A, Basu R (2017) Examining the changing health care seeking behavior in the era of health sector reforms in India: evidences from the National Sample Surveys 2004 & 2014. Glob Health Res Policy. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41256-017-0026-y
Jana A, Harata N, Kiyoshi T, Ohmori N (2014) Exploring the role of social interactions and supports in overcoming accessibility barriers while undertaking health tours in India. Soc Work Public Health 29(4):350–367
Jia X, Li Z, Wang F, Foo DCY, Tan RR (2016) Multi-dimensional pinch analysis for sustainable power generation sector planning in China. J Clean Prod 112:2756–2771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2015.10.102
Kazantzi V, El-Halwagi MM (2005) Targeting material reuse via property integration. Chem Eng Prog 101(8):28–37
Klemeš JJ (2013) Handbook of Process Integration (PI): minimisation of energy and water use, waste and emissions
Levine AI, Demaria Jr, Samuel S, Andrew D, Sim AJ (eds.) (2013) The comprehensive textbook of healthcare simulation: Springer Science & Business Media
Linnhoff B, Townsend DW, Boland D, Hewitt GF, Thomas BEA, Guy AR, Marshall RH (1982) A user guide on process integration for the efficient use of energy. Institution of Chemical Engineers, Rugby
Mays N, Pope C, Popay J (2005) Systematically reviewing qualitative and quantitative evidence to inform management and policy-making in the health field. J Health Serv Res Policy 10(1_suppl):6–20. https://doi.org/10.1258/1355819054308576
MoHFW (2012) National Urban Health Mission. Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, New Delhi, India Retrieved from http://nrhm.gov.in/nhm/nuhm.html
MoSPI (2015) Key indicators of social consumption in India health. New Delhi, India: Retrieved from http://mospi.nic.in/Mospi_New/upload/nss_71st_ki_health_30june15.pdf
Patole M, Bandyopadhyay S, Foo DCY, Tan RR (2017) Energy sector planning using multiple-index pinch analysis. Clean Techn Environ Policy. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-017-1365-6
Roychaudhuri PS, Kazantzi V, Foo DCY, Tan RR, Bandyopadhyay S (2017) Selection of energy conservation projects through Financial Pinch Analysis. Energy. 138:602-615. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.07.082
Saksena P, Xu K, Evans DB (2011) Impact of out-of-pocket payments for treatment of noncommunicable diseases in developing countries: a review of literature. (H. S. F. (HSF), Trans.) Discussion Paper 2. World Health Organization, Geneva, pp. 11
Sengupta U (2006) Government intervention and public–private partnerships in housing delivery in Kolkata. Habitat Int 30(3):448–461. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.habitatint.2004.12.002
Shenoy UV, Sinha A, Bandyopadhyay S (1998) Multiple utilities targeting for heat exchanger networks. Chem Eng Res Des 76(3):259–272. https://doi.org/10.1205/026387698524910
Singhvi A, Shenoy UV (2002) Aggregate planning in supply chains by pinch analysis. Chem Eng Res Des 80(6):597–605
Smith-Daniels VL, Schweikhart SB, Smith-Daniels DE (1988) Capacity management in health care services: review and future research Directions*. Decis Sci 19(4):889–919. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-5915.1988.tb00310.x
Tan RR, Foo DCY (2007) Pinch analysis approach to carbon-constrained energy sector planning. Energy 32(8):1422–1429. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2006.09.018
Tan RR, Bandyopadhyay S, Foo DCY, Ng DKS (2015) Prospects for novel pinch analysis application domains in the twenty-first century. Chem Eng Trans 45:1741–1746
UN (2015) Sustainable Development Goals. 3rd March, 2016, from http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/
Wang YP, Smith R (1994) Wastewater minimisation. Chem Eng Sci 49(7):981–1006. https://doi.org/10.1016/0009-2509(94)80006-5
WorldBank (2016) World Development Indicators: Health expenditure (% of GDP). Retrieved 18th May, 2016, from http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Basu, R., Jana, A., Bardhan, R. et al. Pinch Analysis as a Quantitative Decision Framework for Determining Gaps in Health Care Delivery Systems. Process Integr Optim Sustain 1, 213–223 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-017-0015-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41660-017-0015-0