Overview
This example demonstrates scheduling home health care visits where patients require multiple types of therapy over a two-week treatment plan. The solution matches therapist skills to patient needs, ensures continuity of care, and optimizes travel routes while respecting therapy schedules and therapist availability.This example showcases advanced VRP features including skill-based matching, recurring visits, job relations for continuity of care, and multi-week planning horizons.
Business Scenario
A home health agency manages:- 15 therapists with different specializations (physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy)
- 30+ patients requiring various combinations of therapies
- 2-week treatment plans with multiple visits per week
- Requirements for continuity of care (same therapist for same therapy type)
- Travel time optimization between patient homes
- Therapist work-life balance with maximum daily patient loads
Complete Implementation
Key Features for Home Health Care
Multi-Week Planning
The VRP solver handles extended planning horizons:Skill-Based Matching
Ensure therapists have required certifications:Continuity of Care Relations
Maintain same therapist throughout treatment:Documentation Time
Add padding for post-visit documentation:Therapy Plan Patterns
Standard Rehabilitation Plan
Intensive Post-Surgery Plan
Best Practices for Home Health Scheduling
1
Define clear skill requirements
Use specific tags for certifications, specializations, and patient populations (pediatric, geriatric, etc.).
2
Implement continuity constraints
Use SAME_RESOURCE relations to maintain therapist-patient relationships throughout treatment plans.
3
Balance workload fairly
Enable fairness options to prevent therapist burnout and ensure equitable case distribution.
4
Allow flexible scheduling
Use soft time windows where possible to give schedulers more options while meeting patient preferences.
5
Plan for documentation
Include padding for each visit to account for required documentation and travel buffer time.
6
Consider therapist preferences
Use rankings to match therapists with preferred patient types or geographic areas.
Advanced Scheduling Strategies
Geographic Clustering by Day
Assign therapists to specific regions on different days:Therapy Sequencing
Ensure proper order of therapies when multiple are needed:Emergency Visit Handling
Reserve capacity for urgent additions:Schedule Visualization
Common Challenges and Solutions
Therapist availability changes
Therapist availability changes
Challenge: Sick days, vacations, or schedule changes disrupting continuitySolution:
- Define backup therapists with similar skills
- Use “preferred” vs “required” for continuity relations
- Implement therapist ranking with primary/backup assignments
Last-minute cancellations
Last-minute cancellations
Challenge: Patients canceling visits affects daily routesSolution:
- Use the suggest API to find alternative patients for freed time slots
- Maintain a waitlist of patients needing additional visits
- Allow flexible rescheduling within the same week
Multi-disciplinary coordination
Multi-disciplinary coordination
Challenge: Coordinating multiple therapists for the same patientSolution:
- Use SAME_DAY relations for coordinated visits
- Schedule case conferences using SAME_TIME relations
- Implement minimum time gaps between different therapies
Insurance requirements
Insurance requirements
Challenge: Specific visit frequencies and durations required by insuranceSolution:
- Use hard time windows for insurance-mandated schedules
- Track visit counts with custom constraints
- Generate compliance reports from solution data
Integration with EMR Systems
Integrate with Electronic Medical Records (EMR) for real-time patient data and automated scheduling.