["Proportion of contact"--an alternative attempt to estimate health care needs]

The Swedish Health and Medical Care Act declares that health and medical care should be planned according to the needs of the population. Assessments of health care needs should begin with the total need of health care for any given population since the different forms of health care are dependent on each other. In Sweden, information on utilisation of care could estimate immediate short term health care needs. Individual self-perceived ill health is a reasonable basis for measures of health care needs, allowing for the fact that individuals often are in contact with several different forms of health care. Information regarding the 1.5 million individuals of the Västra Götaland Region and the associated utilisation of different forms of health care were collected for 2000 and 2001 . The proportion of contact is defined as the proportion of unique individuals from a specified geographical area who have been in contact with the health care system during a specified period of time. Each form of health care and the combinations thereof are regarded as a distinct category. The proportion of contact could be regarded as an estimate of the immediate overall self-perceived health care need and a reasonable measure for further studies on how to allocate resources.