Regional Health Care Planning

An approach is presented for planning a health care system on a regional basis. The major components of the process are embodied in four computerized models: a demographic model; a facilities-location model; a regional and local model of the interactions of physicians, patients, and facilities; and a model which uses dynamic programming to determine the best strategy to follow in sequentially altering the health care system. Each of these models is described and representative results from each are presented.