Location-allocation analyses incorporated with cost function to public medical facilities: A case study of Joetsu secondary medical area

: This paper presents location-allocation model incorporated with location cost consisting of land acquisition cost, building construction cost, and medical equipment cost. The cost functions for the location cost are estimated using national data of public hospitals. Joetsu secondary medical area in Niigata Prefecture, Japan is selected as a study area, in which eight public medical facilities are located. The optimal locations for public medical facilities in this medical area are obtained by applying location-allocation model under the constraint to reduce 5% of current location cost as a numerical reduction target of location cost. It is clear that the optimal location consisting of five public facilities can reduce 5% of current location cost without hardly deteriorating access to facilities.