One of the greatest takeaways I receive traveling the country meeting with health system leadership teams is learning how they define common industry terms. . .  parlance of our times if you would.

For example, take “population health.”  Two simple words that seem rather easy to understand when placed together, but when viewed through the healthcare lens, things get complicated.

For example, a major market, East Coast provider has crafted an elegant definition of population health worthy of inscribing on the wall inside the Boardroom.  It reads, “Providing exceptional care, at the right time, at the right place based on the unique needs of the individual.”  Awesome!  How can one argue with that?

To me, the definition of “population health” changes based on the interests of the governing body.  An MSSP plan, for example, has distinct parameters that measure success.  The same is true for an ACO or MA plan.  As arguable as the reimbursement methodology may be, there is a format.  Likewise, an employer’s “workforce” is a population group where health initiatives must have clear metrics that answer the question: Are my employees healthier and how do I know?

Population health is best defined by understanding what information is used to measure outcomes, which care management resources should be deployed and identifying what data will be used to define success.  When the workforce is the population group, employee biometric values are the measurable metrics, health system coaches, navigators or clinicians are the resources and the employer’s claims data is used to measure impact on the utilization of healthcare services.

Using this discipline, the definition of “population health” for a workforce might read, “The promotion of employee health sufficient to mitigate health risks and decrease health benefit expense.”  I am pleased to report that the term “population health” is maturing along the lines I’ve defined.  Atrium Health in Charlotte, Parkview Health in Fort Wayne, University Hospitals in Cleveland and Deaconess in Evansville, Indiana, as a few examples, have all taken the lead and turned population health into a strategic advantage within the commercial market.

Each are actively engaging employers, reducing health risks, modifying behaviors, closing care gaps, aligning health system resources and proving that population health is more than well-intentioned, eloquent words on a wall.  It is an example of the future of healthcare, served one distinct population at a time.

Robert Chamberlain, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Applied Health Analytics