A preference-based approach to fuzzy multicriteria decision making evaluation of hospital locations

This paper formulates the performance evaluation of hospital locations as a fuzzy multicriteria decision making problem, and presents a preference-based approach for obtaining an overall performance index for each hospital location. Linguistic variables approximated by fuzzy numbers are used to represent the subjective assessments of the decision maker so that the subjectiveness and imprecision inherent in the evaluation process is adequately handled in a cognitively less demanding manner. Based on the concept of the degree of optimality, the preference-based approach uses the λ-cut concept to allow the incorporation of the decision maker’s attitude towards risk in approximating his/her subjective assessments. A hospital location evaluation problem is presented for demonstrating the applicability of the approach.