What is Population Health?

One widely accepted academic definition of population health is: "the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group." It was formulated a decade ago by David Kindig, M.D., of the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine, and Greg Stoddart of McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario. Managing population health involves improving health outcomes of the group as a whole by identifying, monitoring and addressing the health need of individuals within the group.

What this means in practice depends on how "group" and "outcome" are defined. Is the group or population all the individuals living in a geographic area? Or those served by or enrolled with a specific provider? Or is it ail those with a specific medical condition? Or those with particular demographic characteristics, such as age or gender? Or those covered by a type of insurance or a specific insurance contract? Are outcomes clinically defined? Do they include things like functional status, well-being or specific health behaviors like diet and exercise or smoking cessation? Do...