Health Care Advisory Board's Care Transformation Center

Nursing 9410 Reflection 4
February 12, 2015

Population health as defined by the Institute of Medicine (2002) is the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group. In 2011, the Health Care Advisory Board’s Care Transformation Center published three key elements for successful population health management. Leaders must plan and prepare for the business of health, partners with others for successful accountability of outcomes, and must define the organization’s role in the community that is serves (Block, 2012). The population is often thought of as in terms of geographic location, but my population can be defined in terms of the campus health of 1300 students. Population health is
While each campus across the United States is unique( 2 year,4 year, commuter, residential, private, public, a small college or large multi-specialty university), and its population objectives slightly differ according to region and student’s needs, there are some common health impediments to academic performance that occur on all campuses. These common population health themes include mental health issues (stress, anxiety, mood disorder, depression, suicide, risky behaviors as in not wearing helmet, drug/alcohol abuse, tobacco use, low immunization rates and infectious disease risks, sexual transmitted diseases). Unfortunately, academic performance is adversely affected by poor health and/or unhealthy behaviors such as limited sleep, poor diet and excessive alcohol or drug use. Many of these non-medical health determinants also correctly to academic success or failure. College Health Services are just beginning to explore the
Future successful Health Services will seek to tie provider reimbursements to quality metrics and reduction in the total cost of the care for student population. Health in the Affordable Care Act Era is a partnership of healthcare systems, public health agencies, community-based organizations, and many other entities working together to improve health outcomes and accountability in the communities they serve (Stoto, 2013). These partnerships must collaborate together to advance evidence based research, health policy, evidence based practice and partner in support of community planning. Improving health is a shared responsibility and has financial implications for the community’s health. Financial concepts must be used in managing health, so money is spent wisely on preventative services, so the system hopefully can avoid the very expensive in patient, chronically ill, poorly managed patient. In managing health the patient is at the center of the valued care and must be fully engaged for the success of the population’s health. The future success of the health of the public must be planned, managed and budgeted. Leaders must take into account all possible health determinant variants including disparities and inequities in the communities. Often these health determinants fall outside the health system, so the barriers must be managed in cooperation