ABSTRACT
The amount and type of health-care services populations receive depend greatly on where they live, the capacity of the health-care system in their area, and the methods practiced by local providers. Different populations need particular services, and they need to be located within reasonable distances of the services they need. Knowing the demographics of an area, where health problems are prevalent, the demand for any particular service, and standards of care may help health-care organizations to decide how to allocate finite health-care resources and where to build new facilities and design population-based interventions.
