ABSTRACT
The method of dividing a region into areas each served by a hospital is defined as districting. Although the resulting patterns of provision may describe accurately many actual locational patterns, no arguments are advanced to suggest that the criteria be modified to fit these patterns exactly. The three main factors that must be taken into consideration when allocating a fixed quantity of health care resources to a region are the number, size and spacing of the hospitals. A large variety of economic profiles can be generated for different combinations of the three factors based on the cost structure of the resources involved. Although a variety of criteria may form the basis for allocating health care resources, the simplest and most convenient is the population of a district. The determinants of hospital location in health care systems do not have the basic test of profitability which is the feature of private enterprise.
