AbstractOur highly complex and increasingly expensive health service systems require management and planning on an area-wide or regional level. In this paper a medical resources allocation decision-making aid which is explicitly attuned to the needs of a regional planning body is described. Specifically, a linear programming production model of a diagnostic radiology department is presented. This model was developed to support the radiographic equipment allocation decisions of the Quebec Ministry of Social Affairs.The outstanding advantage of this approach in terms of implementation is its conceptual simplicity. In particular, the model is merely a multi-dimensional extension of the simple input-output models already used in the decision environment we examined. The model was developed to provide planners with a means of evaluating the relative technical efficiencies of the members of a group of producers and is currently in trial use.