Population Health Paper

Instructions: This assignment must be done in APA format. It is brokendown into 2 questions. A minimum of 1600 words (references is not
included) for the overall assignment is required. The minimum reference
count is 4 (including in-text citations) for the overall assignment. Also,
even though this assignment is done in APA, it must keep the question,
answer, and reference format. Please see example below.
Format: Question: XYZ
Answer: XYZ
Reference: XYZ
Articles for questions:
https://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/factsheets/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/healthy_people/hp2020.htm
1. Population health is a critical facet of managing health. The US government
has taken a proactive role in this arena. For example, over the past few
decades the Center for Disease Control has prepared a series of Health
People initiatives, with the most current being Healthy People 2020. In a
narrative form identify and discuss at least 5 key reasons for managing
population health.
2. Select one aspect of population, either nationally or globally, and discuss
it in depth.
Part Two: This part of the assignment is simple. The minimum word count for
this assignment is 250 words (per response); with one reference each.
Note: Write as if you’re actually talking to the person.
1. Population health and public health are often mistaken for one another
because of their similarities. Public health is about protecting and
improving the health of communities through policy recommendations,
education, outreach, research, and prevention while population health the
act of healthcare entities, agencies, and other organization working
together to improve the health of the communities that they serve (CDC,
2019). Public health has a larger focus while population health focuses on
specific needs and opportunities for improvement. Population health is
something that can be improved on and affected at many different levels.
Population health can be anything from the homeless to pediatrics to a
specific diagnosis such as congested heart failure.
The health of populations can be improved by healthcare policy. The
policies that have aided in population health include but are not limited to
Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the
Affordable Care Act. Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP each aim to improve the
health of specific populations. Medicare focuses on the elderly, Medicaid
focuses on the low-income, and CHIP focuses on children. The ACA was
almost successful in expanding Medicaid nationwide which would have
helped a larger amount of low-income people. There is also another aspect
of the ACA that reflected on population health was the implementation of
value-based care. A value-based care system is a system that has a goal of
improving population health by providing incentive payments to providers
and entities for their quality of care (CMS, 2019). The better the quality of
care the better the payment. That being said it does not stop at the care
that is provided at the physician’s office or hospital, but it continues onto
outpatient care to aid in readmission rates. This is were a different
organization and entities work together to treat the population. Population
health and value-based care may be two different concepts and focuses but
the two work together to improve the health of populations.
2. Population health is defined as “the health outcome of a group of
individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the
group”(Hendrikx,Drewes & Baan,2019). It focuses on people’s perception
of resilience, ability to adapt and self-manage. The CDC states that
population health allows health departments to connect practice to policy
for change to happen locally. Public health is another concept that is similar,
it tries to improve the health of communities through policy
recommendations, health education and outreach, and research for
disease detection and injury prevention(DiClemente & Wingood,2019).
Population health deals with multiple sectors such as education, health
care, social services, urban development and housing. It works to improve
health through local, regional and national levels. Public health is broader,
while hospitals and Doctors treat and care for sick patients public health is
working to prevent people from getting ill in the first place. Public health
promotes wellness and its scope ranges from immunizations in adolescents
and adults to preventing the spread of diseases.
Policies that currently exist to promote population health are taxes on
cigarettes and alcohol, smoking bans, menu labeling at restaurants, seat
belt laws and water fluoridation. The Affordable Care Act was aimed at
improving healthcare through state funded programs such a
Medicaid(income based) and the CHIP program(children). Value driven
health care is becoming more popular by giving financial incentives through
pay-for-performance programs. Linking payment to hospital and Physician
performance is an incentive to improve the quality of care(Dy, Sharma &
Isenberg,2018).
3. The term population health is not a new term since it was introduced in
2003 and has continued to evolve every since it’s introduction. Population
health refers to, “the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including
the distribution of such outcomes within the group” (Kindig, 2015). There
are three categories that it focuses on and they are, health outcomes,
health determinants and policies. It’s important to consider that when
policies are implemented regarding population health, external
environmental and social factors such as clinical care, public health,
genetics, behaviors (smoking, diet, treatments), employment, education,
poverty are all taken into consideration. Population health can also be
looked as the science of analyzing “the inputs and outputs of the overall
health and well-being of a population and using the gained knowledge to
produce desirable population outcomes” (Astho, 2018). The term
population health is also commonly mistaken for public health which refers
to, “the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life, and
promoting health through organized efforts” (Astho, 2018). It is important
to understand the difference between the two terms and take note that
population health has gained momentum due to being more commonly
used in the Triple Aim concept and clinical settings. Triple Aim refers to a
framework used for population health to point out key focuses which are,
“improving the health of populations, improving clinical outcomes and
lowering healthcare costs” (Astho, 2018). Healthcare polices have aided in
achieving positive population health outcomes. Medicaid is one of the
healthcare policies that have aided in the improvement of population
health by addressing the social determinants of health and creating the
conditions under which individuals can thrive. For example, with the
assistance of the ACA, Medicaid was able to be expanded to provide
coverage for, “community-based services, using health workers to deliver
service, and hospital community benefits are examples of how population
health was achieved by addressing health at a community level” (Astho,
2018). Another example of a healthcare policy that has focused on
population health would be Medicare. The new Medicare Advantage policy
is focusing on, “aiming benefits to improve health outcomes by addressing
issues such as housing and food insecurity, transportation and social
isolation” (Bryant, 2018).
On the other hand, value driven care is a fairly new term that was
introduced in 2014 in order to, “replace the nation’s reliance on
fragmented, fee-for-service care with comprehensive, coordinated care
using payment models that hold organizations accountable for cost control
and quality gains” (LaPointe, 2018). The term value drive care or valuebased care refers to, “a form of reimbursement that ties payments for care
delivery to the quality of care provided and rewards providers for both
efficiency and effectiveness” (LaPointe, 2018). The Centers for Medicare
and Medicaid Services (CMS) have taken the lead regarding effective
implementation this new concept. CMS has introduced different valuebased care model such as Medicare Shared Savings Program and Pioneer
Accountable Care Organization (ACO) model. In the ACO model, “doctors,
hospitals, and other healthcare providers work as a networked team to
deliver the best possible coordinated care at the lowest possible cost”
(LaPointe, 2018). In this model, each member would share both risk and
reward with incentives to improve access and quality of care. Lastly, it is
important to take note that value-based care, “aims to advance the triple
aim of providing better care for individuals, improving population health
management strategies, and reducing healthcare costs” (LaPointe, 2018).