Abstract
During the last few decades, the Swedish public health sector has been greatly expanded. At present, about ten per cent of the gross national product goes to health care. Claims for more resources for health care are in prospect. However, demands are increasing from other sectors as well, and it is doubtful whether the share allocated to the health care sector will be allowed to increase at the same rapid pace as before. In this context it is crucial that policy options for health care be identified and evaluated not only in terms of their risks and benefits but also in terms of their accompanying resource requirements. This will require increased knowledge of the magnitude and measurement of health services resources and their relation to the benefits derived from efforts to prevent, cure and alleviate disease and disability. Concepts fundamental to the practice of health care are benefits of the patient and the associated risk of achieving these. Fundamental to economics is the ever-existing consideration of scarce resources, their efficient use and just allocation. These latter dimensions are considered in the studies presented in this dissertation: a comparison of a Swedish and a U.S. community hospital, an analysis of volume and distribution of coronary care units and an economic assessment of computerized tomography.