Health planning for computed tomography: perspectives and problems.

Computed tomography has been introduced to the health care system at a time when health care planning is still evolving. Unlike the recent past, final authorization of large expenditures and new services such as CT now lies outside the providers of care and is based on laws and regulations that are not familiar to many physicians. A brief review of the principal federal statutes is presented from the Hill-Burton Act to the National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974. Recognizing the unique problems in certain special service areas such as CT, the state of Indiana has formed committees to collect information and develop recommendations to assist its health planners in their actions and decisions under the federal statutes. The quantitative problems which the Indiana CT committee must address are presented in some detail, problems that other health planners face as well.