
The new Health Planning Act may have prescribed collection of too much data, too soon. There is no refuge in numbers from the social, professional, and political complexities of planning. A mechanistic criterion of "need" breaks down on close examination-we will have to recognize the effect of "availability." There is little or no experience in carrying out policies of selective contraction; modesty in claims and moderation in pursuit of goals are called for.
Author(s): Herbert E. Klarman
Volume 56, Issue 1
(pages 78–112)
Published in 1978