Improving hurricane disaster preparedness: models for optimal reallocation of hospital capacity

This research presents significant improvements to the hospital capacity planning models for hurricane disaster proposed by Paul and Batta. Firstly, we develop a model that reallocates hospital capacities taking into account the effect of casualty severity on medical care demands and travel time to hospitals on casualty outcomes. Secondly, travel time to hospitals, a key input to the model, is estimated using a stochastic simulation. Thirdly, in order to meet with challenges that arise as disaster evolves, we develop an algorithm that dynamically updates the pre‐disaster plans to post‐disaster reality. The algorithm evaluates prior decisions by dynamically updating the hospital status, travel times and status of the casualty clusters. We demonstrate the application of models in developing pre‐disaster plans (hospital capacity and ambulance reallocation) through a case study on New Orleans. In addition, we show the application of the algorithm for post‐disaster planning via illustrative examples.