Facility Location

Abstract

The construction, expansion, or renovation of hospitals and other health facilities require a large investment of public and private monies. In order to limit the arbitrary location of hospitals, the United States Government, as early as 1946 with the Hill-Burton Act, required a statewide survey and plan in order for a new facility to qualify for needed federal assistance. This control has been expanded since, and the National Health Planning and Resource Development Act of 1974 and subsequent “certificate of need” legistation require elaborate justification for new health facilities, and provide for the restriction of funding from others which are not “locationally efficient.” The need for systematic evaluation to determine the optimal location of health facilities is therefore greater than ever in the United States, as well as elsewhere in the world.