15-01-2026 / 15:00 / CORE C.035  

Bryan David Galarza Montenegro

(University of Antwerpen)

will give a presentation on:

An application of advanced optimization methods in Non-Emergency Medical Transportation

Abstract:

Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) is becoming increasingly important as healthcare systems shift toward outpatient care and aging populations require more frequent medical appointments. However, current NEMT operations face significant operational challenges and are often manually planned in practice. This work presents the design, implementation, and deployment of an advanced optimization engine developed to automate NEMT planning operations. This work is part of a VLAIO development project for a leading software platform in the sector. The optimization engine addresses the complex problem of assigning patient trips to a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles and staff shifts while respecting numerous constraints, including time windows, vehicle capabilities, mobility requirements, and case-specific restrictions. A parallelized Large Neighborhood Search (LNS) metaheuristic, combined with Simulated Annealing and local search refinements, forms the core of the algorithm. The engine is implemented in C++ and integrated directly with the company's web platform. It supports both static full-day planning and real-time dynamic scheduling. Results are validated with real operational data from transport providers in Belgium and Germany. The system has been successfully deployed in production, demonstrating significant improvements in planning efficiency, dispatcher workload reduction, and service quality.

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