OPTIMAL CONTROL THEORETIC APPROACH TO INVESTMENT IN DOCTORS

• Main Author: Mustafa Akan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń 2020-06-01
• Series: Copernican Journal of Finance & Accounting
• Subjects: investment in doctors; optimal control theory; patient satisfaction
• Online Access: https://apcz.umk.pl/czasopisma/index.php/CJFA/article/view/30365

Health care is ever more important with aging population. Assuming the number of doctors per patient is one of the determinants of patient satisfaction, optimal investment in practitioner doctors, specialist doctors and foreign doctors are analyzed given the total number of doctors (domestic) are exogenously determined. The high cost of investment in specialist doctors are weighted against the high salaries of imported foreign doctors.<br />An optimal control theory is employed to determine the optimal investment plans for the two alternative sources of specialist doctors to maximize the net (of costs) patient satisfaction over a fixed time horizon.<br />It is found that a nation with insufficient number of specialist doctors at the beginning of the time horizon should increase the investment in local specialist doctors gradually while employing foreign doctors as to equate their salaries to the marginal satisfaction of the patients. An equilibrium point exists, and it is stable.