Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2014 - (Page 3)

Population Health Improvement: A Community Health Business Model That Engages Partners in All Sectors D aviD a. k inDig anD g eorge i sham Sum m ary * Because population health improvement requires action on David A. Kindig, MD, PhD, is professor emeritus, and emeritus vice-chancellor for Health Sciences, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health and the UW Population Health Institute. George Isham, MD, is senior advisor, HealthPartners, and senior fellow, HealthPartners Institute for Education and Research, in Bloomington, Minnesota. David A. K indig a nd Ge org e Is ha m * 3 f e a t u r e multiple determinants-including medical care, health behaviors, and the social and physical environments-no single entity can be held accountable for achieving improved outcomes. Medical organizations, government, schools, businesses, and community organizations all need to make substantial changes in how they approach health and how they allocate resources. to this end, we suggest the development of multisectoral community health business partnership models. Such collaborative efforts are needed by sectors and actors not accustomed to working together. Healthcare executives can play important leadership roles in fostering or supporting such partnerships in local and national arenas where they have influence. in this article, we develop the following components of this argument: defining a community health business model; defining population health and the triple aim concept; reaching beyond core mission to help create the model; discussing the shift for care delivery beyond healthcare organizations to other community sectors; examining who should lead in developing the community business model; discussing where the resources for a community business model might come from; identifying that better evidence is needed to inform where to make cost-effective investments; and proposing some next steps. the approach we have outlined is a departure from much current policy and management practice. But new models are needed as a road map to drive action-not just thinking-to address the enormous challenge of improving population health. While we applaud continuing calls to improve health and reduce disparities, progress will require more robust incentives, strategies, and

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2014

Table of Contents

Frontiers of Health Services Management - Summer 2014