Valley View Hospital faces somewhat seasonal demand. Patients defer elective surgery in the summer and in...

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Valley View Hospital faces somewhat seasonal demand. Patients defer elective surgery in the summer and in the holiday season at the end of the year. As a result, the forecast of patient days of demand is as follows (a patient day is one patient staying for one day in the hospital): Fall Winter Spring Summer Forecast 90,000 70,000 85,000 65,000 The hospital uses regular nurses, part-time nurses (when the hospital can get them), and contract nurses (who are not employees). Contract nurses work a num- ber of hours which varies depending on their contract established with the hospital. Regular nurses are paid a sum of $15,500 per quarter for 60 days of work; part- time nurses are paid $6500 per quarter for 30 days of work. Contract nurses get an average of $17,200 per quarter for 60 days of work. It costs $1000 to hire or lay off any of these three types of nurses. Suppose that regular nurses are set at a level of 800 nurses for the year. Each regular nurse works the equiv- alent of 60 days per quarter. The remainder of the demand is made up by 50 percent part-time and 50 percent contract nurses on a quarter-by-quarter basis. What is the cost of this plan starting at the beginning of Fall with a level of 800 regular nurses, 200 part-time nurses, and 200 contract nurses? Assume it takes 0.8 nurse day to provide around-the-clock care for each patient day. Valley View Hospital faces somewhat seasonal demand. Patients defer elective surgery in the summer and in the holiday season at the end of the year. As a result, the forecast of patient days of demand is as follows (a patient day is one patient staying for one day in the hospital): Fall Winter Spring Summer Forecast 90,000 70,000 85,000 65,000 The hospital uses regular nurses, part-time nurses (when the hospital can get them), and contract nurses (who are not employees). Contract nurses work a num- ber of hours which varies depending on their contract established with the hospital. Regular nurses are paid a sum of $15,500 per quarter for 60 days of work; part- time nurses are paid $6500 per quarter for 30 days of work. Contract nurses get an average of $17,200 per quarter for 60 days of work. It costs $1000 to hire or lay off any of these three types of nurses. Suppose that regular nurses are set at a level of 800 nurses for the year. Each regular nurse works the equiv- alent of 60 days per quarter. The remainder of the demand is made up by 50 percent part-time and 50 percent contract nurses on a quarter-by-quarter basis. What is the cost of this plan starting at the beginning of Fall with a level of 800 regular nurses, 200 part-time nurses, and 200 contract nurses? Assume it takes 0.8 nurse day to provide around-the-clock care for each patient day.