For decades, the American healthcare system has focused on the clinical needs of sick people, the cure of illnesses, and the medical intervention of at-risk groups. However, these approaches have a limited effect on disease prevention while consistently disregarding prevailing inequalities affecting a population group’s access to medical services and healthcare quality. Recent years have seen a shift toward the population health framework, as health issues continue to persist at a population-level and companies are increasingly aware of how much population health impacts their bottom line. The growth in organizations adopting population health strategies as critical components for their healthcare plans proves that more employers are seeking better health outcomes for employees regardless of their income and social background.
Deploying population health strategies allows HR teams to measure their impact and refine your organization’s population health objectives. These can include analyzing the success of their health strategies, using the collected data collected to target the right people, improving the variation in care, and determining the total care costs.
Read on to learn more about population health strategies your organization should consider and how to measure their impact.
Organizations using population health strategies to improve outcomes in their employee healthcare do so for a good reason. A population health strategy is an approach to care management designed to improve a target population’s health, rather than individual health outcomes.
Population health strategies help companies identify opportunities to advance health equity among their employees while reducing healthcare costs. This involves redistributing the risk factors allowing high-risk employees to benefit from a broad range of interventions offering better health outcomes, including disease control and prevention.
Examples of such employees include:
Developing effective population health strategies involves extensive collaboration between healthcare professionals, managed care plans, and social services. HR teams should also prioritize social, economic, and environmental factors when developing population health initiatives.
Organizations aiming to improve their Population Health Management (PMS) Systems rely on effective population health strategies. Deploying PMS strategies ensures a greater impact on healthcare delivery at lower costs while providing a better understanding of risk stratification. A key focus of PHM strategies and their components is achieving quality improvement resulting in sustainable patient outcomes. Such outcomes are easily accomplished when healthcare providers, including managed care plans, can identify the risks associated with certain groups and develop appropriate health interventions that improve patient care. Below are some examples of good population health strategies:
Human behavior is a key factor in ensuring healthy lifestyles and disease prevention. Individual behavioral strategies are prevention-oriented strategies promoting self-preservation activities focusing on adopting healthy behaviors and lifestyles that lessen the risk of developing a chronic disease. These strategies seek to influence social and behavioral transformation in a population through programs that promote healthy lifestyles and well-being, such as education, counseling, nutrition programs, and physical activity.
Providing effective clinical care is a core component of population health, which is why aligning clinical care with population health is all the more important. Clinical population health strategies aim to improve population health by reducing healthcare costs and improving patients’ experience by focusing on their overall health.
Population health equity strategies focus on improving access to healthcare to reduce disparities for vulnerable populations. Health inequalities occur when healthcare systems fail to address the impact of population-level factors, i.e., physical, social, and economic environments, on community health outcomes. Organizations can achieve health equity when healthcare planners and providers collaborate to develop healthcare systems, programs, and policies to eliminate employees’ socioeconomic disadvantages allowing them to “attain their full health potential.” Factors influencing health inequality include workplace conditions, housing and physical environment, social and community context, income and wealth disparities, healthcare access and use, and access to high-quality education.
This is a key population health strategy influencing better outcomes and long-term patient well-being. An excellent example of inadequate patient engagement can be seen in a 2021 Pegasystems survey, where seventy-six percent of healthcare providers report having superb communication with patients, while barely half of their patients (54%) reported being pleased with the communication. Patient engagement strategies are crucial to improving treatment compliance and streamlining the determination of a suitable care plan. Strong patient/provider relationships also help reduce overall healthcare costs. Population health initiatives can only achieve their objectives when they fulfill the patients’ physical, mental, and social needs. Thus, healthcare providers should communicate appropriately to ensure prompt and complete patient/provider information sharing. Some ways to accomplish this include:
Innovative digital health technologies like population health informatics and smartphone medical apps are practical tools for reaching vulnerable populations. Telemedicine interactions through mobile web-based platforms are a leading communication medium, enabling real-time interactions between healthcare providers and patients in historically underserved communities.
Using data to improve patient outcomes is another crucial objective of PHM. Data can be analyzed to determine a population’s historical behavior patterns and determine the most effective medical interventions for patients. Currently, data allows healthcare providers to spot overlooked areas of patient care and track progress. However, forthcoming Artificial Intelligence (AI) developments will transform healthcare delivery, including treatment protocols and preventive medicine.
HR teams and healthcare planning committees must adopt a multifaceted approach when considering factors impacting an organization’s population health. The impact of the four main factors, also known as Social Determinants of Health (SDOHs), varies according to a population’s health needs and inequalities. This section examines the main drivers to consider when developing population health strategies.
Some key considerations healthcare planners should prioritize when implementing population health strategies:
Compiling and analyzing accurate data is crucial for measuring the impact of population health strategies on communities. A World Health Organization (WHO) 2020 report underscores the importance of developing effective monitoring systems to generate data that ultimately influence decision-making. Evaluating the Impact of population health strategies is a continuous process where the constant data gathering and analysis ensures the long and short-term objectives remain effective. Below are some of the key steps involved.
Organizations implement PHM strategies to drive the Triple Aim healthcare objectives, which seek to achieve:
Organizations seeking innovative healthcare systems align them with PHM strategies to achieve sustainable change. Let us explore how organizations can use the following key population health strategies to improve health outcomes.
It’s no surprise that successful implementation of population health strategies is an overly complicated process. As we discussed earlier, PHM is an evolving conception comprising various innovative technologies using clinical, socio-economic, behavioral, financial, and environmental data to improve clinical outcomes and reduce costs.
Tools used in implementing population health strategies provide a framework allowing healthcare planners to identify, monitor, and offer precision care to individuals in a population. Here are 4 tools that can help organizations implement population health strategies
Implementing and measuring the effectiveness of population health strategies can be daunting. However, by partnering with the right stakeholders and implementing the right strategies for the population, you will see the benefits of improved health outcomes and employee well-being. To learn more, please feel free to visit our Resource Library or schedule a call with one of our benefits experts.
Workplace financial wellness is more than a trending perk, it’s a core pillar of employee…
When it comes to encouraging physical activity in the workplace, it’s important to design employee…
As we approach Social Wellness Month in July, now is the perfect time to explore…
Employee wellness isn't just about offering gym stipends or access to meditation apps. It's a…
Employer branding has quickly become a critical focus for companies competing for top talent and…
Workplace leadership plays a defining role in the success of any wellness initiative. It’s not…
This website uses cookies.
Read More