wk 7 respon

Need responses to these four Student Post. About 3-5 sentence resposes.

· Student Post : Faneshia Walton posted Dec 2, 2015 5:49 PM

Population health is defined as the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group. (3,4) These groups are often geographic populations such as nations or communities, but can also be other groups such as employees, ethnic groups, disabled persons, prisoners, or any other defined group. The health outcomes of such groups are of relevance to policy makers in both the public and private sectors. (Kingdig, 2003). 

Two key concepts that will greatly influence the definition and actualization of population health in the post-ACA era include the accountable care organization (ACO) and the patient-centered medical home (PCMH). The PCMH is focused on transforming primary care to better deliver “patient-centered” care and to address the whole patient, including their health and social needs. Both models will need to identify, monitor, and manage their “population” of patients. However, in an article by Pub Med Central, their ability to extend their definition of population health to encompass the entire community will depend on resources, market share, and the strength and capacity of collaborating community and public health organizations. As integrated delivery systems are asked to do more than focus on their own patients, they will require additional resources. These may come from a realignment of existing programs (community benefits), a return on investment from effective preventive care, or collaborative relationships with existing community and public health organizations.

Overall, ACOs should become more facile at viewing their population as a whole and identifying trends across their panel’s health (age, gender, race, chronic conditions). Additionally, ACOs need to assess which preventive strategies will yield the best return on investment for their patients.

In an article titled "Achieving Population Health In Accountable Care Organizations" they listed several ways that ACO to develop meaningful collaborative relationships with public health entities.

Engage in collaboration with public health and key community agencies, including conducting a joint needs assessment. Collaboratively select health outcomes for focus. Set up a formal agreement with the public health authorities to share data and monitor progress toward goals in clinical and community settings. Identify population health indicators to be included on the ACO dashboard. Use a portion of global payment fee to support community public health activities.

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· Student Post: Simone Hnath posted Dec 3, 2015 9:48 PM

Population Health is "about measuring health outcomes and their upstream determinants and using these measures to coordinate the efforts of public health agencies, the health care delivery system, and many other entities in the community to improve health" (Soto, 2013)

The ACO has impacted population health by holding healthcare providers and healthcare facilities more accountable for providing value based care that is patient centric, especially in the Medicare/ Medicaid reforms.

http://healthitanalytics.com/news/md-health-systems-collaborate-for-population-health-management/  This link to this article discusses how several health systems in western Maryland have joined together in a collaborative system that bases their care on value based reimbursement instead of the traditional fee for service based payment system. 

· Student post : Tracey Lynch posted Dec 2, 2015 8:41 PM

     Population Health is the health evaluation of a group of individuals, Duncan and Hayes (1999) focuses on measurement, not only health incomes but also the factors that influence them: “The health of a population as measured by health status indicators and as influenced by social, economic and physical environments”.  I prefer this explanation because it views the environment as a whole and realizes that many external factors influence population health. 

     The Affordable Care Act effects the population health of the under privileged and allows them to gain access to healthcare.  The social, economic and physical have started to be overviewed to provide those access to a doctor.  However, many people still are uncovered and I believe the three aspects have to further broken down and individual neighborhoods or rural areas that now don’t have healthcare can get it.  There may be a language barrier or perhaps there is no transportation in certain areas to obtain full population health. http://www.cardigm.com.  

     Accountable Care Organization is to improve the patients’ experience of care.  Improving the health population decreases healthcare costs.  For example, if a chronic condition data is viewed and lifestyle changes are taught and made then the patients’ adaptation to a healthier lifestyle will decrease healthcare.  Managing data of a population and engaging the patient changes can be made.

     Primary Care Medical Homes (PCMH) is an IT solution to maximize technology at the primary care setting.  Primary Care is connected to hospitals, home health, and mental health via technology.  PCMH examples would be electronic health records (EHR), telemedicine, or patient portals.  PCMH could be expanded to reach schools, employers, or public health agencies.  http://www.pcpcc.org.

· Student post: Salina Kydysheva-Reece posted Dec 2, 2015 8:07 PM

Individuals that are a part of a minority group often find that they are not well represented. Population health is a specific term that describes the health outcomes of a specific group and also the breakdown of these outcomes are distributed throughout the group. This breakdown allows for an analysis of the population as a whole, but also allows the researcher to identify inequalities of care. By identifying inequalities, lawmakers can build policies and programs that may be introduced to target specific minorities that may not be well represented.

The Affordable Care Act was written, in many ways, to address the issues that come up in population health research.  By expanding the coverage of various private and public healthcare programs, minority groups that previously did not have equal access to health care. The act also aims to increased preventative healthcare in the United States, which would equally increased health of a population. Minorities that find themselves underrepresented in their population, will now have the tools to seek the care that they need regardless of their present situation. Accountable Care Organizations and Primary Care Medical Homes both rely heavily on identification of their population and rely on research like population health. Population health allows these models to control their global payment models and leverage their expectations amongst a specific population (Stoto, 2013).

Strong public health organizations are cited as key to reaching equal accessibility in a population health model. This is because a public health organization would have access to policy and regulatory influence, as well as preventative care that does not necessarily align with the interests of a private entity (Hacker & Walker, 2013). Value based reimbursement would also be a method of care that would judge a patient on their health, rather than their number of visits and would be better suited to a public entity.