Improving Population Health: Introduction

One of modern medicine’s greatest accomplishments has been the development of programs that monitor and improve the public’s health. Vaccines, improved sanitation and hygiene, safer work­places, enhanced food and drug safety, illness and injury preven­tion, and improved drug and alcohol abuse programs have led to improvements in the health and well-being of people of all ages and backgrounds.22

In the broadest sense, improving population health is about “what we as a society do collectively to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy.”23 Effective efforts in this area often stem from coordination between healthcare organizations, governmental agencies, the scientific community and others to monitor, measure and promote healthy behaviors and disease prevention.

Electronic clinical data can help support health and healthcare improvements including public health interventions, disease management, quality im­provement, provider performance measurement, epidemiologic surveillance, research, and more. Data describing the process of healthcare and the health of individual patients is generated from many sources. The process of collating, analyzing, and using this and other data to benefit the entire popu­lation can support improvements in the way we prevent illness and injury, provide patient care, and manage care systems – important areas of focus if we are to assure the conditions in which people can be healthy.

This module of the Toolkit provides:

• A shared vision for improving population health
• Guiding principles for improving population health
• Broad strategies and actions for improving population health
• Best practices and community experiences in improving population health
• Comprehensive resources and tools to help clinicians and organizations improving population health
• Consensus legislation related to improving population health
• Our leadership, working groups and staff who are contributing to this area of work.