Methodological issues in per capita measurement in health care.

General agreement exists on the utility of and need for more widespread applications of health system performance indicators measured on a per capita basis. This article contains a discussion of certain methodological issues in per capita measurement and provides recommendations to facilitate applications and future advances. The two basic approaches to per capita measurement are summarized and the need for methodological research is emphasized. Illustrative per capita measures that would be of assistance in applied settings are presented in the context of a tabular display of health and demographic data for a hypothetical state.