A report published by Milbank Memorial Fund and researchers from New Haven, Conn.-based Yale University reveals many states fail to make budget and policy decisions that address population health. That said, healthcare professionals who understand this problem can work with policy makers to start resolving it.
The study included in-depth interviews with state and local government officials to understand their experiences with professionals who work in health and social services investments and programming.
The authors of the study identified three root causes for states' suboptimal investments in health, summarized here.
1. Too frequently, population health is not prioritized relative to other societal goals. Study participants said population health tends to compete with other political and social issues for attention and resources. Population health loses that battle because "relatively low public attention to population-level health and measurement complexities…limit the evidence base for policymaking."
2. Financial and political incentives to improve health are misaligned. Healthcare sector professionals who participated in the study reported observations of misaligned incentives that prioritized case volume over care quality, or focused efforts on costs or predetermined targets, as opposed to broader health goals.
3. There is no clear consensus on who exactly is responsible for population health. Although many agree the responsibility for health is shared across multiple sectors, the officials interviewed for the study argued the "ambiguity, subjectivity and inconsistency" surrounding who should oversee population health initiatives ends up fragmenting efforts to promote health and being counterproductive to success.
To access the full report, click here.
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