The article was authored by Sandro Galea, MD, a physician, epidemiologist and dean of the Boston University School of Public Health. According to Dr. Galea, figuring out how to measure success is one of the great challenges of population health efforts.
“In general, population health is defined as the health outcomes of a group of individuals and how those outcomes are distributed within the group,” he wrote. “But most discussions about measuring outcomes focus on the group as a whole and neglect distribution.”
In the article, Dr. Galea notes providers should focus on measurements that account for inter-group differences and marginalized communities, in addition absolute achievement.
The article outlines three ways the healthcare industry can focus these population health measurements, summarized below.
1. Make closing the health gaps between different population groups a priority of population health improvement efforts.
2. Include relative indicators of health along with absolute indicators in metrics and take accountability for making a difference in the indicated categories, including race, ethnicity and income.
3. Establish incentives that promote efficiency in improving the absolute metrics and equity in closing gaps, and embed the incentives into the overall provider culture.
More articles on population health:
Hearst Health announces judge panel for population health prize
Partners HealthCare, Health Catalyst collaborate and create $30M Center for Population Health
RWJF seeks population health ideas from providers for $6.6M research initiative
