One of the major criticisms leveled at population health initiatives

One of the major criticisms leveled at population health initiatives

One of the major criticisms leveled at population health initiatives is that they purposely introduce a reduction in revenues to a health care organization – especially a hospital. If you are an executive running a business, why would you knowingly propose a strategy that cuts revenues and presumably cuts margins that fund your mission? A fair question.

Your challenge in this week’s assignment is to look at population health from a business perspective, addressing the usual questions:

How would population health impact

Patient care?

Costs of care?

Providers and payers?

What are the component pieces of population health initiatives?

What incentives are faced/created by providers, payers and patients?

What barriers exist to ”fixing” the problem?

What is a business-based solution that allows population health to move forward and why is it best?

In a more focused context, consider these ideas as you answer the above questions – it is the above five items I will evaluate your response on for this assignment. The following items are just suggestions to help you think about population health from that business perspective.

Why should a hospital executive consider a population health strategy? What’s in it for a hospital or health system?

What is the impact on a health system’s revenues over the short term (1-2 years) and longer term (3-5 years)?

How do you make the case to a governing board or investors that expect to see a steady upward trend in revenues and net income/surpluses? Remember, this is YOUR employment and YOUR bonus on the line here. How do you make population health a success for you as a manager and not have it become “career limiting activity”?