Predicting demand for publicly dispatched ambulances in a metropolitan area.

A model to predict demand for publicly dispatched emergency ambulance service in Los Angeles County is constructed using 1970 census tract and land usage data and 1973 population and utilization data. Although data were not available for many communities within the county, results indicate that the mode, which uses four socioeconomic variables, can accurately explain actual variations in ambulance demand for individual communities in Los Angeles County and for larger regions within the county.