Using demographic data for ambulatory health care planning: a dental health practice management model.

The use of sociodemographic data in planning ambulatory health services is discussed and illustrated. Five global indices are identified as important for establishing contours of need within local community areas: social class, population heterogeneity, resident mobility, family organization, and general stress factors. Knowledge of sociodemographic distributions within a given community can serve as an adjunct for rational decision making in planning and placement of ambulatory health care services. It can also establish a means for evaluating whether extant health services reach their intended targets via comparisons to the social demography of patients receiving care in private practices or public clinics. Such analyses are germane to ambulatory health care practitioners in both the public and private sector.