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Based upon a survey of hospitals in the Boston-Cambridge area of Massachusetts, this paper focuses on regional variations in demand for health manpower, manpower distribution problems, and projections of future demand. Statistics and examples are drawn solely from the New England region, and more specifically, from Massachusetts. Income and education of a population are shown to be inversely correlated to hospital admissions. Boston-Cambridge statistics for the period 1968-1973 show a 31.4 percent increase in outpatient visits and a 25.2 percent increase in the level of employment in health facilities (as compared to 56 percent, and slightly less than 25 percent for the nation). In New England, only the number of hospital beds appears to be a determining factor in hospital inpatient admissions. Other important variables since 1954, both in New England and the Nation, include the number of active physicians per bed and hospital occupancy rates and average daily census. Massachusetts is cited as an example of supply (e.g., the number of physicians) increasing demand (hospital admissions). Location and structural distribution problems are discussed, including the high concentration of physicians in the urban Boston area. Projections of demand for physicians range from a 14.4 percent increase (under the least comprehensive version of proposed national health insurance) to 34.3 percent (under the most comprehensive version). A number of tables are included.