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Author ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0521-5997

AccessType

Open Access Dissertation

Document Type

dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Degree Program

Management

Year Degree Awarded

2019

Month Degree Awarded

May

First Advisor

Anna Nagurney

Subject Categories

Business Administration, Management, and Operations | Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods | Operations and Supply Chain Management

Abstract

A crucial component of every healthcare system is the safe and steady supply of the life-saving product, blood. In order to meet the demand for blood consistently, it is imperative to maintain a robust supply chain. The blood banking industry in the United States, faced with emerging challenges, which include, an increase in operating costs, rise in competition among blood centers, insufficient reimbursement from payers such as insurance companies and government programs, in addition to inherent challenges such as donor motivation, seasonal shortages, perishability, is trying to adapt to the changing dynamics to sustain itself economically. The altruistic nature of this industry and the financial implications for its various stakeholders, makes the efficient management of blood supply chains an important and interesting area of study. In this dissertation, I contribute to the existing literature on blood banking by modeling the operational and economic challenges throughout the blood supply chain in the context of competition using game theory. I develop a model for blood service organizations competing for donations where they use service quality levels at collection sites as their strategic variables to increase their collection of blood from voluntary donors. I further construct a competitive blood supply chain network model that captures all major activities as well as perishability along the supply chain from collection of blood to distribution to hospitals. As a crucial extension to the study on blood supply chains, I develop a network framework with multiple tiers of decision-makers including payers, that captures the decentralized nature of the blood banking system in the United States. The solutions from this multi-objective decision-making problem include quantities of blood to be supplied and transfused, given demand is known, as well as the financial transactions between the different tiers of stakeholders. For each model the governing equilibrium conditions are derived, and equivalent variational inequality formulations presented. The models and their relevance are further illustrated through simulated case studies. The results obtained provide valuable insights that can inform healthcare policy makers and regulators.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.7275/14217613

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