Week 1 Class 2 Term D Class Thread
1
Instructions: Reply to 2 of your peers below. Must be 250 words or more.
For each thread, students must support their assertions with at least two scholarly citations in addition to the Bible in APA format. Each reply must incorporate at least one scholarly citation(s) in APA format. Any sources cited must have been published within the last five years. Acceptable sources include the textbook, the Bible, and scholarly articles.
Review your classmates’ threads, and respond through considering:
Classmates’ Tread 1.
Population health does not have a single definition. Rather, it can take the form of whoever is studying it, and what they are studying it for. Population health can be explained as a group of people studying a people to try and understand the health of the group, how they can improve the group's health, and what they can do to keep influencing the health long-term. It is the study of how they live with the understanding that how they live influences their decisions, and therefore their health. Nash et al. (2021) highlights several attributes to population health. Population health management, public health, chronic care management and compression of morbidity, are focuses of population health that require their own research, initiatives and carry their own weight under the larger umbrella. Population health management is the idea of understanding the health, or illness of a population and finding driving ways to make that affordable, understandable, and attainable for all of those who live within a given community. This can, and should, include government initiatives, laws, and regulations. Public health, according to Nash et al. (2021) is not to be confused with population health. Rather, public health is a determinant of population health. It has a specific focus on communities, this includes their prevention methods, education, and public health policies. Chronic care management is growing in the United States as the general population reaches an older age. This is putting a strain on the healthcare system. The goal of chronic care management within population health is health promotion and prevention of unnecessary diseases, as well as acute illnesses related to chronic disease management (Nash et al., 2021).
Population health addresses healthcare disparities through a number of ways. The passage of the American Care Act (ACA) has provided insurance for many who were unable to obtain this before, and possibly contributed to the roughly one third of the American population who needs help, but are unable to obtain it (Nash et al., 2021). A 2020 study on racial and ethnic disparates in healthcare also found that the ACA helped to close the gap for those specific population (Baumgartner et al.,). The federal government's intervention in healthcare in America is focused around the disparities, or the differences of health and healthy practices among different groups of people. Different races, cultures, and ways of life, all living within America practicing different beliefs in health and what it means to be healthy have been combined into one population, Americans. Some with the ability to obtain healthcare, and live a healthy lifestyle, others with no means to obtain healthcare with multiple chronic conditions. The federal government intervened due to these disparities to help the population achieve the healthcare they need to reduce the number of disparities. This can be related to Christians worldwide. Although, according to Romans, we belong to one body, Christ, we live in different communities surrounded by different kinds of people and have different temptations from the devil. So, to are Americans faced with different health disparities and problems obtaining healthcare.
Population health helps to support state and national initiatives and interventions that address health needs by first defining them. Population health allows us the ability to research and determine what problems plague certain groups of people, and what the causes for that may be. Essentially, population health helps to support these initiatives by providing the data needed to create the initiatives, and then track its progress.
Classmates’ Tread 2.
What is population health and its major attributes?
There are numerous definitions of what population health is and according to Nash et al., (2021) population health is the distribution of health outcomes within a population, the health determinants that influence distribution, and the policies and interventions that affect those determinants. However, the Center for Diseases and Control (2021), defines population health as an interdisciplinary, customizable approach that allows health departments to connect practice to policy for change to happen locally. Both definitions have similar concepts, which is what can be done to help a local population with better health outcomes. The determinants that factor into population health can be part of the social and economic environment or can be factors related to the physical environment in the area. The major attributes of population health are chronic care management, quality and safety, public health, and health policy (Nash et al., 2021). The combination of these attributes helps to determine the goals and strategies used in population health that can help those in need.
How does population health address healthcare disparities?
The interaction between the determinants can lead to the how healthcare disparities are addressed. To improve health outcomes better access to quality healthcare regardless of insurance status that focuses on prevention and maintenance is needed for all people. The development of programs that allow access for all individuals will help address the disparities facing communities. More recently, there has been increasing acknowledgement that social determinants explain more of the variance in health outcomes and disparities than do narrower traditional constructs of access to and quality of medical care (Silverstein, et al., 2019). Being able to work with people in communities’ settings especially in low income and rural areas can help address the disparities that are present in those communities. In the bible it says, “There will always be poor people in the land. Therefore, I command you to be openhanded toward your fellow Israelites who are poor and needy in your land” (Deuteronomy 15:11). Helping people in our communities has been part of society for many years and as Christians it is our duty to assist those in need. Healthcare needs should be available to everyone not just some and working together to overcome the disparities in and around communities is crucial to society.
How does population health help to support state and national initiatives and interventions that address health needs?
Population health plays a key role in establishing communicate between healthcare providers and the patients. The U.S. healthcare systems now holds healthcare workers accountable for the care they provide to the patient as well healthcare costs. A key factor to assist with this is with the passing of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The ACA has regulations and initiatives that target areas of the population that need help in order to improve the health of those in the communities. The ACA has helped many people get and keep health insurance that in the past they may not have been able to afford. There are major disparities based on socioeconomic status, roughly 28.5 million Americans are still uninsured as of 2017 while 133 million Americans suffer from one chronic condition (Nash et al., 2001). Working together with healthcare systems and the community will help to address goals that have been established locally and nationally. Teaching people how to prevent bad healthcare outcomes helps to improve a person’s quality of life, we all can play a part in this mission.