iFair: Achieving Fairness in the Allocation of Scarce Resources for Senior Health Care

Modeste Mefenya Kenne, Prasanna Date, Ronald T. Eguchi, Zheng Hui Hu, Julie Rousseau, Nalini Venkatasubramanian

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

Efficient resource allocation is crucial in many domains, particularly in senior care, where assigning resources to older adults must consider uncertainties associated with vulnerable populations. In collaboration with Senior Health Facilities (SHFs) and domain experts, this paper presents iFair, a novel framework designed to assist decision-makers in equitably allocating scarce resources to older adults. iFair was prototyped in the context of ongoing work on a data exchange platform, CAREDEX, used for enhancing older adults' resilience during disasters. A key novelty of iFair focuses on aligning resident preferences with resources in urgent situations, expediting care, and enhancing task efficiency. We integrate static and dynamic environmental data, including facility layouts and sensor data, with detailed resident profiles to cater to the individual needs and preferences of residents. While our framework primarily focuses on allocation within facilities, it also extends to a regional scale to support the planning and transfer of seniors to mutual aid facilities. Our experiments adapt data from a real SHF to emulate resource allocation in an emergency fire evacuation setting and highlight the delicate balance that decision-makers can achieve between efficiency and fairness.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationProceedings - 2024 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2024
PublisherInstitute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Pages22-30
Number of pages9
ISBN (Electronic)9798350349948
DOIs
StatePublished - 2024
Event10th IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2024 - Osaka, Japan
Duration: Jun 29 2024Jul 2 2024

Publication series

NameProceedings - 2024 IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2024

Conference

Conference10th IEEE International Conference on Smart Computing, SMARTCOMP 2024
Country/TerritoryJapan
CityOsaka
Period06/29/2407/2/24

Keywords

  • decision-making
  • fairness
  • resource allocation
  • senior health care

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