Preventable hospitalizations: a tool for planning and marketing ambulatory health care services.

As the health care system evolves towards increased levels of managed care, planners and managers will need to understand how the utilization of ambulatory care services influences the use of more expensive hospital care. Preventable hospitalization, an index based on Ambulatory Care Sensitive (ACS) conditions, is proposed as an indicator for identifying communities with significant ambulatory care needs. The design and marketing of ambulatory health care services functionally adapted to meet the challenges of managed care will require new forms of health care information to plan, market, monitor, and evaluate the outcomes of health care policies and programs. An example is presented of the use of preventable hospitalizations as indicators of ambulatory care needs in 48 communities in Massachusetts.