A focus on preventative care is one of the main reasons healthcare organizations are implementing population health management programs. This holistic approach shifts individuals and communities toward healthy lifestyles.
A healthcare organization can define a population as a geographic region, patients covered by certain insurance providers, or people with shared conditions. Successful PHM programs provide a host of benefits:
Better Care Coordination
In a time when healthcare costs are skyrocketing, and patients are faced with increasingly complex health conditions, the need for better care coordination has never been greater. This is where population health management programs come in. This new discipline steps beyond individual patient focus to examine trends and identify factors that influence the overall health of a group of people.
It aggregates healthcare data from multiple information technology resources into one unified clinical picture. It also includes analyzing that data to improve clinical outcomes and reduce healthcare costs.
The most successful population health management programs use various tools to monitor the health of specific communities and provide real-time analytics to help drive action and results. These tools can include everything from disease management to medication adherence and financial incentives.
To be a population health manager, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree in a relevant field like public health or healthcare administration. The Bachelor of Science in Healthcare Administration program is offered online, an excellent start to a career that can make a difference in our communities.
Preventive Care
When communities focus on improving preventive care, they improve health outcomes in ways that go beyond the treatment of current healthcare complaints. Providing basic screenings like blood pressure and diabetes tests at low or no cost to all community members, for example, helps people stay healthy and allows medical professionals to track their progress over time.
Healthcare organizations often lead community-focused initiatives but can involve various partners, including politicians, business leaders, education providers, and charity organizations. Regardless of who oversees the program, the goal is to identify and implement best practices for managing population health, considering all the elements that define individuals and communities at risk: the physical environment, clinical care, social and economic issues, and health behaviors.
This holistic approach is essential to addressing the challenges of the shift away from fee-for-service toward value-based payments, which are designed to reimburse medical professionals for keeping their patients healthy rather than treating them after they’ve already become sick. Identifying and removing barriers preventing at-risk patients from receiving the needed services is also crucial.
Better Patient Engagement
As the healthcare industry shifts to value-based care, patient engagement becomes a primary focus for all stakeholders. While there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving patient engagement, population health management programs can help address some of the industry’s everyday challenges.
For instance, the lack of access to comprehensive healthcare services can contribute to poor outcomes among specific populations. This is particularly true for patients living in rural or small communities with more limited healthcare facilities, making it difficult to receive treatment.
Therefore, identifying and targeting at-risk groups is crucial for population health managers. That involves everything from conducting community outreach and research to linking these individuals with cost-effective holistic services. It also means understanding the social determinants of health (SDOH), defined as the “social, economic, and environmental factors that shape an individual’s chances for healthy outcomes.” SDOH data can be used to design targeted population health initiatives to improve clinical and financial outcomes.
Reduced Hospitalizations
One of the primary goals of population health management is to reduce hospitalization rates. PHM programs can identify at-risk patients and provide education and support to help them avoid hospitalization. This helps reduce overall costs for the healthcare system and individuals.
PHM also supports community-based approaches that can improve health outcomes. For example, a program might target the dietary habits of an entire community to promote better health. It also encourages physical activity or provides access to healthy foods. This can help lower blood pressure, prevent stroke and heart disease, and improve diabetes outcomes.
Healthcare administrators play an essential role in improving healthcare outcomes through PHM initiatives. Online Doctor of Nursing Practice programs can prepare experienced nurses to be leaders in this vital field. Focusing on prevention and healthy lifestyles can reduce healthcare costs and improve patient outcomes nationwide. This can help alleviate the financial burden of our nation’s fee-for-service healthcare system, which is among the highest in the world. And that is a good thing for everybody.
Reduced Costs
Most health benefits plans are designed to cover treatment when an employee is sick, but a population health management program can help your team avoid getting sick in the first place. As a result, you can save on medical costs and increase productivity among your team members.
The healthcare industry is shifting from a fee-for-service model to a value-based care model, where providers get reimbursed for keeping patients healthy rather than just treating them when they are sick. As a result, many organizations are turning to PHM to improve patient outcomes while reducing overall costs.
Unlike other traditional healthcare management practices, population health programs collect data at the community level. This includes the current health status of individuals, factors that influence their health, and the resources available to them in the community. This helps the system understand the total cost of improving a patient’s clinical outcome by one unit.
An organization leveraging this data type to address health concerns among specific populations. An online degree from a University can provide you with the leadership skills necessary to succeed in a career in this field, including roles as CNO, chief nursing officer, medical and health services manager, and clinical informatics manager.
