Population health is often
misunderstood by the general population and therefore I believe it is
incredibly important to educate people to the best of our ability. When I
started as a Health Management and Policy major, even I could not truly answer
what public health and population health was. The definition can vary and the
aspects that contribute to population health are constantly changing as well
and I believe this is what makes it so difficult to grasp. Over the past few
years I have been able to gain a better understanding of population health and
how to achieve it on a whole new level. Accountable Care Organization’s, Triple
Aim, health payment reforms such as Value Based Care, Community centered health
homes, and Health Impact Assessment are all important factors that impact and
contribute to successful population health.
Primary prevention is also an
important factor in the success of population health. Many initiatives have
been taken in New Hampshire towards prevention. For example, a program was
created by Rudolph Fedrizzi. This innovative program known as Healthy Monadnock
2020 was to become the healthiest community in the nation by 2020. This showed incentive
in the community to reach population health by creating this program and
advocating for new walking trails, available jobs for the unemployed, and
healthy eating habits which would allow health care costs go down in the long
run. Rudolph Fedrizzi was an advocate for saving community health and put an
emphasis on it. Additional prevention strategies have been taken in Manchester
as well. It is prevention strategies like these that need to be advocated for
so that we can improve population health and maintain a healthy community.
Taking precautionary measures will not only ensure better health for the
population but it will lower health care costs as well.
Hi Kayli,
ReplyDeletePopulation health is so vital in today's environment. As you mentioned, ACO's seem to be the way of the future. In March 2018, Children's Hospital will be taking on 20,000 Medicaid patients as part of a new ACO contract. Brigham will also be entering into a separate contract. The challenge here is how to keep the population healthy while keeping costs down, yet still figuring out how to still make money on other patients while remaining equitable.
One topic I would add to this is to also pay attention to what is happening on the federal level right now with funding decisions and proposed cuts to Medicaid. This would have a disastrous effect on the children of Massachusetts and also financially hurt hospitals. Take a look at this recent article:
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2017/11/29/state-braces-for-possible-loss-federal-funding-for-children-health-program/MekRTbfyEXyLWpQKD0cbAO/story.html
Mass. braces for possible loss of federal funding for children’s health program
The Boston Globe reports on Wednesday, Governor Charlie Baker sent a letter to congressional leaders on behalf of the National Governors Association, urging Congress to take immediate action to continue funding for Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. Officials at Boston Children’s Hospital have also been raising the issue at meetings in Washington with members of Congress according to Boston Children’s Vice President of Government Relations, Josh Greenberg, JD.
The initiatives you identified are all worthwhile goals. The challenge is finding ways to get the points across to certain subsets of the general population, and/or to make those healthy choices available and affordable for those who wish to embrace the needed lifestyle change(s).
ReplyDeleteLifestyle habits influence a considerable amount of the overall population health. The effects of poor nutritional choices (high fat, high salt, lots of highly refined white carbohydrates, etc), excessive caloric intake, alcohol, lack of exercise, and smoking greatly increase health costs. Should individuals who choose to adopt poor lifestyle habit(s) of their own free will pay more for their insurance and/or health care? Should healthcare organizations be penalized if individuals in their patient population, who demonstrate unhealthy lifestyles, refuse to change their habits? The challenge is to find the happy medium of cost-effective population healthcare which is fair, efficient, and which contains the ethical mix of incentives and penalties for both providers and patients.