Systems approach to population health improvement

Managed care organizations (MCOs) are uniquely well positioned to implement population health initiatives. In an MCO setting, populations may be clearly defined. Health care may be provided via integrated clinical care delivery systems. Centralized services such as information systems, community relations, health promotion and disease prevention support, and marketing campaigns may aid in the achievement of population health improvement objectives. However, in order to sustain population health improvement efforts long-term, continued support and allocation of critical resources are needed. For this to occur, efforts need to be integrated with the personal, social, economic, regulatory, and business objectives of all key stakeholders involved in this process. Furthermore, the process needs to continuously generate deliverables in order to allow for ongoing feedback, evaluation, accountability, relationship building and maintaining, and continuous quality improvement to occur. Hence, specific strategies may be considered from a systems perspective. The present article describes a systems approach in which a population health cycle generates health improvement outcomes that are used to provide the rationale for continued allocation of resources.