Significance of population health knowledge in the education of the undergraduate workforce for careers in the health care sector.

Stephen A Martin

doi:10.3389/fpubh.2014.00212

Abstract

Significance of population health knowledge in the education of the undergraduate workforce for careers in the health care sector.

Highlights

U.S hospitals and health care systems are focusing increasing attention on health outcomes and the distribution of such outcomes as a means to improve the health of and to eliminate health inequities in their respective communities and patient populations. Much of this attention can be attributed to the provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) that explicitly promotes a population health approach by accelerating the transition to value-based payment models and by expanding access to health care services among newly insured Americans
Health care leaders recognize that population health will be a key to their success moving forward, but identifying hospitalbased leaders and training a workforce versed in population health will be critical to that success
The way in which we train and properly prepare the health care sector workforce rest mainly with our for-profit and nonprofit institutions of higher learning, baccalaureate nursing schools, other training programs, and the community college system where much of the important ancillary health care workforce first begin their professional training. It begs the question: do our training and academic programs that lead to a career in the health care sector include a core public health component focusing on population health competencies? If not, are we doing a disservice to the health care sector workforce, the undergraduate trained individuals, by not preparing them for the demands their health care systems are asking them to undertake in the realm of population health management? The workforce demand for undergraduates educated in public health is potentially in the thousands, and given the types and numbers of healthcare organizations, likely exceeds the demand for the direct public health workforce

Summary

Introduction

U.S hospitals and health care systems are focusing increasing attention on health outcomes and the distribution of such outcomes as a means to improve the health of and to eliminate health inequities in their respective communities and patient populations. Hospitals and health care systems will need to realign their organizational infrastructures to be congruent with a population health management agenda. It begs the question: do our training and academic programs that lead to a career in the health care sector include a core public health component focusing on population health competencies?

Results

Conclusion