Under the supervision of Alan Ladd, Jr., head of 20th Century-Fox, director Robert Altman made "HealtH" for US$6 million through his Lion's Gate Films company (unrelated to the present-day firm based in Vancouver). At the time, Altman had commitments to deliver films for Fox until 1981; "HealtH" was his fifteenth feature project. " had great faith in me," he told David Sterritt in 2000; "he put his own job on the line." Of the film's timing, he said, ""HealtH" could have only been made when it was made, and that was the end of the Carter era." This and 1979's "Quintet" were Altman's first collaborations with writer Frank Barhydt; the two would later work on the 1988 HBO miniseries "Tanner '88", as well as 1993's "Short Cuts" and 1996's "Kansas City".