This fundamental text is designed for students of both health care administration and comprehensive health planning. It is intended as a resource on the theory and process of health project planning with some mention of possible sources for further exploration. The emphasis is on how to develop a plan when the planner also has the authority to implement the plan. It is based and tested on a formal course offered by the George Washington University Department of Health Care Administration and covers: (1) history of planning--why and how the government became involved in health planning, and the development of health planning legislation, including the grant-in-aid program, the Hill-Burton program, and recent amendments providing for areawide planning; (2) current planning programs-- review of five laws currently providing for health and health-related planning; (3) organizing for planning-- determination of who should participate in a planning action, and suggestions as to how these participants should be selected; (4) forecasting; (5) goals, policies, and objectives--normative planning; (6) spatial aspects of health planning-- area and location; (7) community characteristics and resources-- demography, ecology, and health status; (8) manpower--system, needs, and problems; (9) determination of requirements--providers of care, consumers of care, and systematic analysis of data; (10) cost-benefit analysis-- a method for evaluating alternatives; and (11) evaluation-- an explanatory definition, and evaluation principles related to the health field. (MM)