Integrating Population Health Research Articles

How can health systems approach reducing health inequalities? An in-depth qualitative case study in the UK

BackgroundAddressing socioeconomic inequalities in health and healthcare, and reducing avoidable hospital admissions requires integrated strategy and complex intervention across health systems. However, the understanding of how to create effective systems to reduce socio-economic inequalities in health and healthcare is limited. The aim was to explore and develop a system’s level understanding of how local areas address health inequalities with a focus on avoidable emergency admissions.MethodsIn-depth case study using qualitative investigation (documentary analysis and key informant interviews) in an urban UK local authority. Interviewees were identified using snowball sampling. Documents were retrieved via key informants and web searches of relevant organisations. Interviews and documents were analysed independently based on a thematic analysis approach.ResultsInterviews (n = 14) with wide representation from local authority (n = 8), NHS (n = 5) and voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) sector (n = 1) with 75 documents (including from NHS, local authority, VCSE) were included. Cross-referenced themes were understanding the local context, facilitators of how to tackle health inequalities: the assets, and emerging risks and concerns. Addressing health inequalities in avoidable admissions per se was not often explicitly linked by either the interviews or documents and is not yet embedded into practice. However, a strong coherent strategic integrated population health management plan with a system’s approach to reducing health inequalities was evident as was collective action and involving people, with links to a “strong third sector”. Challenges reported include structural barriers and threats, the analysis and accessibility of data as well as ongoing pressures on the health and care system.ConclusionWe provide an in-depth exploration of how a local area is working to address health and care inequalities. Key elements of this system’s working include fostering strategic coherence, cross-agency working, and community-asset based approaches. Areas requiring action included data sharing challenges across organisations and analytical capacity to assist endeavours to reduce health and care inequalities. Other areas were around the resilience of the system including the recruitment and retention of the workforce. More action is required to embed reducing health inequalities in avoidable admissions explicitly in local areas with inaction risking widening the health gap.

Restructuring Healthcare Financing to Enable Effective Integrated Care and Population Health

Singapore faces an aging population and spiraling healthcare costs. To address these challenges, Healthier SG will launch in 2023 to shift towards a population health approach to care for Singaporeans, to keep them healthy, and prevent or slow down disease progression. Residents will be encouraged to enrol with a primary care physician and take on an upstream preventive approach to healthcare. Delivery systems must focus on integrated care. In addition, there is a need to bend the rate of growth of cost curve. NHG, as one of the three public healthcare clusters, will take on the role of a “Population Health Manager” responsible for the health outcomes of 1.5M population assigned.
 Who is it for? Policy makers, health sector decision makers, health managers, health authorities, health and social care professionals, researchers, academia, health experts, and the staff working on implementation of integrated care, healthcare finance professionals
 Who did you involve and engage with? Singapore Ministry of Health officials, Chief financial officers of hospitals, healthcare professionals, and clinicians (both specialist and primary care physicians) and community care partners.
 What did you do? NHG restructured itself organisationally to form an Accountable Care Organisation (ACO). The Health Ministry would be providing funding for subsidised care in the form of capitation funding per assigned resident per year (as opposed to the predominant fee for service funding currently) and additional funding for preventive care and health screening. NHG will aggregate the funds to design payment models that cut across different care setting to integrate care delivery. Incentive payments tied to performance outcomes and indicators will be established. Providers will also part-take in shared savings. NHG will also serve as a network of providers to join up care delivery, with focus on primary and preventive care.
 What results did you get? What impact did you have?We are in the stages of planning and design. The results we hope to achieve are for residents to enrol with a single primary care provider who will be partnering NHG to oversee the end to end care of the enrolled residents. Some of the indicators to be monitored measure resource allocation, resident enrolment rate, primary care physician enrolment rate with NHG, avoidable ED and hospitalisation rates and total subsidised healthcare cost per resident.
 What is the learning for the international audience? The learnings to share are the importance of engagement of leadership across the ecosystems, appropriate funding and resource allocation based on care needs of the population, setting up of enablers, including IT and data exchange, use of incentives to prompt behaviour changes, and the need for change management to get buy-in.
 What are the next steps? NHG will be rolling out key activities in the areas of primary care enrolment, designing the financing framework for payment and sharing of incentives with the providers, and is also in the midst of implementing key IT system enablers.

Community health worker navigation to improve allostatic load: The Integrated Population Health (IPOP) study

BackgroundSocial determinants of health (SDOH) and cumulative stress contribute to chronic disease development. The physiological response to repeated stressors typical of lower-income environments can be measured through allostatic load – a composite measure of cardiovascular, metabolic, and immune variables. Healthcare systems have employed patient navigation for social and medical needs to improve SDOH that has demonstrated limited impact on chronic disease outcomes. This study evaluates a novel community health worker navigation intervention developed using behavioral theories to improve access to social and medical services and provide social support for poverty stressed adults. MethodsThe Integrated Population Health Study (IPOP) study is a randomized, parallel two arm study evaluating community health worker navigation in addition to an existing integrated population health program (IPOP CHW) as compared to Usual Care (population health program only, IPOP) on allostatic load and chronic disease risk factors. IPOP CHW participants receive a 10-month navigation intervention. ResultsFrom 381 screened individuals, a total of 202 participants (age 58.15 ± 12.03 years, 74.75 % female, 79.21 % Black/African American, 17.33 % Hispanic) were enrolled and randomized to IPOP CHW (n = 100) or IPOP Only (n = 102). ConclusionThis study will evaluate whether CHW navigation, using a structured intervention based on health behavior theories, can effectively guide poverty stressed individuals to address social and medical needs to improve allostatic load—a composite of cumulative stress and physiological responses. Healthcare systems, nonprofit organizations, and governmental entities are interested in addressing SDOH to improve health, thus developing evidence-based interventions could have broad clinical and policy implications.

A Methodology for Integrating Population Health Surveys Using Spatial Statistics and Visualizations for Cross-Sectional Analysis.

Large-scale population surveys are beneficial in gathering information on the performance indicators of public well-being, including health and socio-economic standing. However, conducting national population surveys for low and middle-income countries (LMIC) with high population density comes at a high economic cost. To conduct surveys at low-cost and efficiently, multiple surveys with different, but focused, goals are implemented through various organizations in a decentralized manner. Some of the surveys tend to overlap in outcomes with spatial, temporal or both scopes. Mining data jointly from surveys with significant overlap gives new insights while preserving their autonomy. We propose a three-step workflow for integrating surveys using spatial analytic workflow supported by visualizations. We implement the workflow on a case study using two recent population health surveys in India to study malnutrition in children under-five. Our case study focuses on finding hotspots and coldspots for malnutrition, specifically undernutrition, by integrating the outcomes of both surveys. Malnutrition in children under-five is a pertinent global public health problem that is widely prevalent in India. Our work shows that such an integrated analysis is beneficial alongside independent analyses of such existing national surveys to find new insights into national health indicators.

Health in All Education: A Transdisciplinary Learning Outcomes Framework

Historical and recent population health issues necessitate the goal of educating and preparing a transdisciplinary workforce with population health knowledge and competence to be able to develop, implement, and evaluate innovative and feasible solutions that not only address multifaceted community health problems downstream but also to be able to predict and prevent those factors that contribute to an inequitable health burden upstream. To identify where population health education is already shared among multiple disciplines, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Academic Partnerships to Improve Health program conceptualized the Health In All Education initiative that was implemented in partnership with the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research. The purpose of the initiative was to (1) show the importance of integrating population health principles into higher-education transdisciplinary practices; (2) discuss examples of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention collaboration with disciplines related to public health (i.e., economics, environmental engineering, health informatics, health law and policy, social work, liberal education in general education); and (3) explore opportunities to promote transdisciplinary learning to prepare for collaborative, interprofessional practice in population health. This article introduces the Health in All Education Learning Outcomes Framework, a set of shared population health concepts identified on the basis of discipline-representative consensus. The following domains were identified as having transdisciplinary applicability on the basis of established public health curricula, competency, and learning outcome models: determinants of health, evidence-based approaches, population health focus, interprofessional practice, community collaboration, environmental health, occupational health, global health, diversity/cultural competence, health systems, finance and budgeting, and health law and policy.

No Quick Fixes: Integrating Population Health Education and Quality Improvement in a Large Residency Program.

The intersection of population health (PH), quality improvement (QI), and health disparities is increasingly a focus in graduate medical education. However, it remains unclear how trainees may best improve disparities within clinical training environments. We integrated PH education for residents participating in a practical QI experience in a continuity clinic serving an underserved population. We analyzed whether PH education increased confidence in creating care plans and implementing team-based care strategies after selection of one of three QI metrics with known health disparities led to improvement. Posteducational session, attendees had odds of confidence in creating care plans 10.0 (95% confidence interval [CI] 4.6-21.7) times the presession period, whereas nonattendees' confidence was unchanged (OR 1.63, 95% CI 0.78-3.4). Residents participating in the QI project did not have higher confidence in creating a care plan at baseline (20% vs. 9.6%, p = .09) nor any additional shift in confidence versus other residents (p = .57). There were no differences in QI metric performance rate trends for residents choosing a specific QI metric versus those that did not (p > .33 for all comparisons). PH didactics can increase resident confidence around PH topics. However, translating such learning into outcomes and improved health equity may require dedicated efforts across residency training.

Applying the British Columbia Health System Matrix (BCHSM) population segmentation framework to support integrated care in Ontario, Canada.

ObjectiveTo adapt the BCHSM population segmentation methodology to Ontario’s health administrative data to identify mutually exclusive segments with similar health care needs to support integrated care efforts and population health management in Ontario, Canada. To compare health system related costs across derived segments to identify opportunities for better integrated care. ApproachWe identified Ontarians alive with valid health card numbers as of April 1, 2020 (n =14,358,565) and created a matrix of prior utilization, cost and diagnoses using linked health administrative databases. Using a hierarchical technique, we assigned individuals into one of 14 BCHSM segments based on the greatest health care needs. Segments of need range from non-users (low need) to end-of-life patients (greatest need). We report the distribution of individual characteristics, average monthly costs across segments and further stratified health care costs by quintile of material deprivation within segments. ResultsThe largest segment was the healthy (low) users (43%) followed by low chronic conditions (28%) and non-users (10%). Five segments comprised <1% of the total population: end-of-life, frail in care, cancer, frail in the community and child and youth major. Average costs per month alive increased from $28 for the non-user segment to $5,100 for the end-of-life segment (0.5% of the population). Costs in the Frail with high chronic conditions segment ($2,740/mo) were 3-times higher than costs in the high chronic conditions segment ($930/mo), 6-times higher than costs in the medium chronic conditions segment ($450/mo), and 14-times higher than costs in the low chronic conditions segment ($193/mo). Results were generally more favourable in areas of low (vs high) material deprivation overall and within population segments. ConclusionUsing Ontario’s linkable health administrative data we have created an Ontario adaptation of the BCHSM needs-based population segmentation approach. Segmentation supports population health management as well as helping identify opportunities for improvement to strengthen integrated care and potential cost savings.

Integrating Population Health Strategies into Primary Care: Impact on Outcomes and Hospital Use for Low-Income Adults.

Our objectives were two-fold: 1) To evaluate the benefits of population health strategies focused on social determinants of health and integrated into the primary care medical home (PCMH) and 2) to determine how these strategies impact diabetes and cardiovascular disease outcomes among a low-income, primarily minority community. We also investigated associations between these outcomes and emergency department (ED) and inpatient (IP) use and costs. Retrospective cohort. Community-based PCMH: Baylor Scott & White Health and Wellness Center (BSW HWC). All patients who attended at least two primary care visits at BSW HWC within a 12-month time span from 2011-2015. Outcomes for patients participating in PCMH only (PCMH) as compared to PCMH plus population health services (PCMH+PoPH) were compared using electronic health record data. Diastolic and systolic blood pressure, hemoglobin A1c, ED visits and costs, and IP hospitalizations and costs were examined. From 2011-2015, 445 patients (age=46±12 years, 63% African American, 61% female, 69.5% uninsured) were included. Adjusted regression analyses indicated PCMH+PoPH had greater improvement in diabetes outcomes (prediabetes HbA1c= -.65[SE=.32], P=.04; diabetes HbA1c= -.74 [SE=.37], P<.05) and 37% lower ED costs than the PCMH group (P=.01). Worsening chronic disease risk factors was associated with 39% higher expected ED visits (P<.01), whereas improved chronic disease risk was associated with 32% fewer ED visits (P=.04). Integrating population health services into the PCMH can improve chronic disease outcomes, and impact hospital utilization and cost in un- or under-insured populations.

Public health competencies for pharmacists: A scoping review

Background: Pharmacists are increasingly called to integrate population health approaches into their role. Public health knowledge and skills are recommended to be incorporated into the pharmacy curricula and professional development to enable competence of pharmacists in this area. Aim: To describe the competencies required by pharmacists to contribute to the public health of populations. Methods: A scoping review of peer-reviewed and grey literature discussing competencies in both pharmacy and public health was conducted. Competencies were extracted into a matrix of pharmacy and public health competencies and inductive coding of themes was undertaken. Results: Analysis of 58 papers showed important themes of professionalism, communication and collaboration with communities and other health professionals. Pharmacist services providing health promotion, screening and disease prevention should be directed at community needs. Evolution of pharmacy competencies in global health, health informatics and disaster management are current topics. Conclusion: A public health perspective in all pharmacy competency domains may assist pharmacists to understand their responsibility in improving the health and wellbeing of communities and ensure the profession has a positive impact on local, national and global health indicators.

Embedding Population Health in Physical Therapist Professional Education.

The future of health care professional education is moving from a focus on the individual to embrace the health of the larger society. The COVID pandemic has further highlighted the connection between social determinants and the health of populations. There are frameworks and competencies to support the delivery of population health content in the entry-level DPT curriculum. Three options for integrating population health content into the DPT curriculum are presented: (1) threading the content throughout the curriculum, (2) concentrating the content in 1 or 2 identified courses, and (3) offering elective courses. Each of these strategies has benefits and challenges but threading the content throughout the curriculum provides the best opportunity to reinforce population health competencies across populations and practice settings. Experiential learning using authentic scenarios provides an ideal opportunity for students to understand population health concepts in a real-world context. Activities that incorporate interaction with other health professions broadens students’ perspectives of the role of different professions for achieving population health goals. Examples of learning activities are included in three competency areas, Foundations of Population Health, Prevention and Health Promotion, and Health Policy. Current societal issues provide an opportunity to enhance population health education from a meaningful perspective for students. The topic of health equity presents an opportunity to tie social and political factors of population health to social justice and health outcomes. Similarly, the COVID-19 pandemic puts issues of mental health, health disparities, and health systems front and center in our understanding of population health.ImpactHealthcare practitioners are looking at health through the lens of health equity and acknowledging the impact of social and political determinants on health to address health disparities, decrease healthcare expenditures, and respond to changes necessitated by pandemics such as COVID-19. As healthcare systems and practices are rethought and reconstructed, the intentional integration of population health principles woven into the fabric of professional education is a critical component of preparing future providers. This paper describes how population health concepts can be meaningfully embedded into Doctor of Physical Therapy curriculum along with providing realistic examples and activities.

Considerations for an integrated population health databank in Africa: lessons from global best practices

Background: The rising digitisation and proliferation of data sources and repositories cannot be ignored. This trend expands opportunities to integrate and share population health data. Such platforms have many benefits, including the potential to efficiently translate information arising from such data to evidence needed to address complex global health challenges. There are pockets of quality data on the continent that may benefit from greater integration. Integration of data sources is however under-explored in Africa. The aim of this article is to identify the requirements and provide practical recommendations for developing a multi-consortia public and population health data-sharing framework for Africa. Methods: We conducted a narrative review of global best practices and policies on data sharing and its optimisation. We searched eight databases for publications and undertook an iterative snowballing search of articles cited in the identified publications. The Leximancer software © enabled content analysis and selection of a sample of the most relevant articles for detailed review. Themes were developed through immersion in the extracts of selected articles using inductive thematic analysis. We also performed interviews with public and population health stakeholders in Africa to gather their experiences, perceptions, and expectations of data sharing. Results: Our findings described global stakeholder experiences on research data sharing. We identified some challenges and measures to harness available resources and incentivise data sharing. We further highlight progress made by the different groups in Africa and identified the infrastructural requirements and considerations when implementing data sharing platforms. Furthermore, the review suggests key reforms required, particularly in the areas of consenting, privacy protection, data ownership, governance, and data access. Conclusions: The findings underscore the critical role of inclusion, social justice, public good, data security, accountability, legislation, reciprocity, and mutual respect in developing a responsive, ethical, durable, and integrated research data sharing ecosystem.

Considerations for an integrated population health databank in Africa: lessons from global best practices.

Background: The rising digitisation and proliferation of data sources and repositories cannot be ignored. This trend expands opportunities to integrate and share population health data. Such platforms have many benefits, including the potential to efficiently translate information arising from such data to evidence needed to address complex global health challenges. There are pockets of quality data on the continent that may benefit from greater integration. Integration of data sources is however under-explored in Africa. The aim of this article is to identify the requirements and provide practical recommendations for developing a multi-consortia public and population health data-sharing framework for Africa. Methods: We conducted a narrative review of global best practices and policies on data sharing and its optimisation. We searched eight databases for publications and undertook an iterative snowballing search of articles cited in the identified publications. The Leximancer software © enabled content analysis and selection of a sample of the most relevant articles for detailed review. Themes were developed through immersion in the extracts of selected articles using inductive thematic analysis. We also performed interviews with public and population health stakeholders in Africa to gather their experiences, perceptions, and expectations of data sharing. Results: Our findings described global stakeholder experiences on research data sharing. We identified some challenges and measures to harness available resources and incentivise data sharing. We further highlight progress made by the different groups in Africa and identified the infrastructural requirements and considerations when implementing data sharing platforms. Furthermore, the review suggests key reforms required, particularly in the areas of consenting, privacy protection, data ownership, governance, and data access. Conclusions: The findings underscore the critical role of inclusion, social justice, public good, data security, accountability, legislation, reciprocity, and mutual respect in developing a responsive, ethical, durable, and integrated research data sharing ecosystem.

Community design and hypertension: Walkability and park access relationships with cardiovascular health.

There is an increased literature focusing on the role of the built and natural environments in preventing hypertension. However, very few studies have quantitively analyzed specific pathways through which urban form affects blood pressure levels. To examine how features of the built and natural environments relate to hypertension and the mediating role of transportation and leisure walking and body mass index in this relationship. We examined the association between neighbourhood walkability and park availability with hypertension through generalized linear models in two independent population cohorts. One Cohort was 22,418 adults (My Health My Community) and the other cohort was 11,972 adults (BC Generations Project). We employed a path analysis modelling approach to explore the presence and significance of mediating factors that may contribute to any association between walkability or park availability and hypertension. This study intentionally employed walkability measures enforced through municipal zoning and subdivision regulations legally underpinned by health, safety, and welfare. All models were adjusted for socioeconomic and other characteristics where data were available. Our analysis of two population-based Canadian cohorts consistently found that higher levels of walkability and park accessibility were both associated with significantly lower odds of self-reported hypertension, especially for lower income individuals. Mediation analysis showed that obesity accounted for 50% and 52.9% of the total effect of walkability and park accessibility on hypertension, respectively. We suggest an integrated population health approach that considers multimorbidity as a result of exposure to car-dependent areas and the lack of green spaces. Longitudinal research is needed to document causal effects of built and natural environments on hypertension.

The art and science of a strategic grantmaker: the experience of the Public Health Agency of Canada\u2019s Innovation Strategy

SettingThe Public Health Agency of Canada’s Innovation Strategy (PHAC-IS) was established amid calls for diverse structural funding mechanisms that could support research agendas to inform policy making across multiple levels and jurisdictions. Influenced by a shifting emphasis towards a population health approach and growing interest in social innovation and systems change, the PHAC-IS was created as a national grantmaking program that funded the testing and delivery of promising population health interventions between 2009 and 2020.InterventionDuring its decade-long tenure, the PHAC-IS supported the development of innovative, locally driven programs that emphasized health equity, encouraged iterative learning to respond reflexively to complex public health problems (the art), while at the same time promoting and integrating population health intervention research (the science) for improved health at the individual, community, and systems levels through four program components.OutcomesPHAC-IS projects reached priority audiences in over 1700 communities. Over 1400 partnerships were established by community-led organizations across multiple sectors with more than $30 million of leveraged funds. By the final phase of funding, 90% of the projects and partnership networks had a sustained impact on policy and public health practice. By the end of the program, 82% of the projects were able to continue their intervention beyond PHAC-IS funding. Through a phased approach, projects were able to adapt, reflect, and build partnership networks to impact policy and practice while increasing reach and scale towards sustainability.ImplicationsAnalysis and reflection throughout the course of this initiative showed that strong partnerships that contribute sufficient time to collaboration are critical to achieving meaningful outcomes. Building on evaluation cycles that strengthen project design can ensure both scale and sustainability of project achievements. Furthermore, a flexible, phased approach allows for iterative learning and adjustments across various phases to realize sustained population and systems change. The model and reflexive approach underlying the PHAC-IS has the potential to apply to a broad range of public programs.

Incorporando las narrativas y las percepciones en los diagnósticos de salud locales: el caso de Bilbao

The subjectivity of a multitude of dimensions that affect health requires systemic approaches, study designs that integrate population health data and the narratives of the population, as well as specific methodological approaches that allow the capture of evidence from social and community processes. The use of participatory methodologies in urban health diagnoses is key to capturing the different perspectives and knowledge of the local context, contributing to a more complete analysis of reality. This methodological note presents the development of the participatory process carried out as part of the Bilbao health diagnosis; the identification of participating agents and selection criteria, the invitation to participate and the dynamics developed. Sharing experiences that have incorporated participatory processes is necessary to foster its methodological development, and thus, to promote it practice.

EARLY INITIATION OF BREAST FEEDING AMONG CHILDREN 0-23 MONTHS OF AGE AND ASSOCIATED FACTORS IN DISTRICT CHARSADDA, PAKISTAN

OBJECTIVE: To determine the practice of Early Initiation of Breast Feeding (EIBF) and associated factors among mothers of children 0-23 months of age in district Charsadda, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan.METHODS: This study was part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Integrated Population Health Survey (KPIPHS), 2016-17 and included data of 36 union councils of district Charsadda. Women having children >2 years of age (n=357) were selected through multistage stratified-cluster random sampling. Data was collected using validated structured questionnaire. Association of breastfeeding practices was analyzed against a set of demographic variables through multivariable logistic regression analysis, using STATA-15RESULTS: Out of 357, 211 (59.10%) children were breastfed within first hour after birth. Mean age of the mothers was 35.1±9.35 years. About 49.58% (n=177) of mothers were aging 26-35 years, 63% (n=225) were rural residents, and 50.42% (n=180) were uneducated. In EIBF children, mothers between 26-35 years (n=115; 54.4%), uneducated (n=93; 44%), and residents of rural areas (n=148: 70%) had a significant association (p=≤0.05). In multivariable adjusted model, mothers between 26-35 years (OR: 1.8; 95% CI: 1.1-2.9; p=0.025) and those living in rural areas (OR: 2.1; 95% CI: 1.3-3.5; p=0.002) were more likely to initiate breastfeeding earlier as compared to those living in urban areas and above 35 years of age after adjusting for other covariates.CONCLUSION: More than half of the children under two years at district Charsadda were breastfed within first hour after birth. Residence, maternal age group, and school education had a strong association with EIBF.

Being a real nurse: A secondary qualitative analysis of how public health nurses rework their work identities.

Many Western nations are emphasizing the importance of population health across health care delivery organizations and education systems. Despite significant momentum to integrate population health into nursing practice, a parallel effort to examine how these efforts impact practicing nurses' views of their professional role and work identity has not occurred. This secondary qualitative analysis, employing an abductive approach, explored processes public health nurses use in creating and maintaining their work identity through three organizing themes: narrative self-identity, mandated identity, and identity as struggle. The analysis was based on interview data collected from 30 US public health nurses residing in 17 states. 'Being a real nurse' describes public health nurses' efforts to balance a contradictory work identity where at times they are expected to focus on populations and at other times, on individuals. The identity work revealed through this study should be further explicated and specific strategies developed for stabilizing a work identity for public health nurses, as well as for any nurse charged with a population health role.

Volatility and Persistence of Value-Based Purchasing Adjustments: A Challenge to Integrating Population Health and Community Benefit Into Business Operations.

With the passage of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2010, Medicare's Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) began a transition to value-based purchasing (VBP) that rewards or penalizes hospitals based on patient satisfaction, clinical processes of care, outcomes, and efficiency metrics. However, hospital-level volatility vs. persistence in value-based payments year-over-year could result in unpredictable cash flows that negatively influence investment behavior, drive underinvestment in community benefit/population health management initiatives, and make management of the factors that drive the VBP adjustment more challenging. To evaluate the volatility and persistence of hospital VBP adjustments, the sample includes VBP adjustments and the associated domain scores for the 2,547 hospitals that participated in the program from 2013 to 2016. The sample includes urban (74%), teaching (29.1%), system affiliated (46.5%), and not-for-profit (63.6%) facilities. Volatility was measured using basic descriptive statistics, relative risk ratios, and a fixed effect, autoregressive, dynamic panel model that robust-clustered the standard errors. There is substantial change in a given facility's total VBP score with an average standard deviation of 10.74 (on a 100-point scale) that is driven by significant volatility in all metrics but particularly by efficiency and outcomes metrics. Relative risk ratios have dropped substantially over the life of the program, and there is low persistence of VBP scores from one period to the next. Findings indicate that if hospitals receive a positive adjustment in 1 year, they are almost as likely to receive a negative adjustment as a positive adjustment the following year. Furthermore, using a fixed-effect dynamic panel model that controls for autocorrelation, we find that only 13.5% of a facility's prior year IPPS adjustment (positive or negative) carries forward to the next year. The low persistence makes investment in population health management and community benefit more challenging.

Abstract 224: Implementation of an Actionable EHR-based Population Health Dashboard and Curriculum in a Cardiovascular Disease Fellowship

Background: The advent of learning healthcare systems requires physicians to not only manage individual patients, but also use data to manage their patient population as a whole. Improving care using data has been facilitated via the adoption of the EHR and its ability to collate data for populations of patients. While incorporation of population health into residency curricula has become more common, there have been few educational initiatives for fellows despite the requirements of the ACGME that fellowship programs provide trainees with practice habit data relevant to their patient population. We aimed to create and evaluate an ambulatory cardiovascular disease fellowship population health dashboard and curriculum incorporating actionable, relevant metrics. Methods: In 2018 we developed a curriculum that taught principles of population health through didactics and videos that CVM fellows in our program could access asynchronously. In parallel, we developed a novel fellow-specific population health dashboard embedded in our EHR. The dashboard included demographic information relating to the fellow’s clinic patient population such as race/ethnicity, healthcare utilization information like percentage of no-show visits, and specialty specific quality metrics such as beta-blocker use in patients with CHF. CVM fellows (PGY4-7) participated in the effort. Fellows were encouraged to review their practices then coached by a CVM faculty member in one-to-one sessions to develop strategies to improve one or more quality metrics of their choice. Pre and post surveys were administered to determine baseline and post-curriculum knowledge, attitudes, and experience with the topic of population health. We tracked fellow engagement through measured dashboard utilization. Results: Pre and post survey response rate was 81% and 46% respectively. At baseline, 23.5% (8) of fellows reported never receiving any education in population health and 67.6% (23) of fellows reported previous experience with population health tools such as EHR dashboards. Only 14.7% (5) of fellows had baseline knowledge of how quality metrics affect health care reimbursement. After the initial year of the curriculum and dashboard implementation, 100% (11) of fellows responding believed that it was important to learn about population health management and planned to utilize the skills they learned in practice. Further, 72% (8) of fellows changed one or more aspects of their practice after utilizing the dashboard coupled with one-on-one coaching. Since EHR dashboard implementation, fellows have accessed the dashboard 560 times. Discussion: Integrating population health education utilizing a fellow-specific EHR dashboard in a CVM fellowship is both feasible and highly rated. This method of population health education is scalable across other cardiovascular disease fellowship programs and other subspecialties.

Top Ten Tips Palliative Care Clinicians Should Know About Integrating Population Health Principles into Practice.

The field of palliative care (PC) has spent the past decade demonstrating that it improves outcomes for patients, clinicians, and health systems. Forward-thinking organizations preparing for a reimbursement system rooted in value have built robust inpatient PC programs and are rapidly moving toward the outpatient and community settings as well. As PC programs get larger and are increasingly tasked with leading a wide variety of diverse initiatives, population health principles can help to focus programs on high-value activities. This article, written by population health researchers and PC clinicians, seeks to provide PC teams nationally with a variety of population health strategies and tools to guide PC delivery throughout the health system and beyond.