Two of the big stories of 2016 have been about income inequality, which has been a significant part of the presidential election campaigns, and the increasing focus on population health in the U.S. health care system. These two are strongly connected. Indeed, if you believe the classic definitions of population health, income inequality is a, if not the, primary driver of disparities in health status. But in the contemporary U.S. context, “population health” tends to mean doing a better job at managing the care of patients along the continuum — focusing more on prevention and targeting social and medical interventions for those folks for whom we are at highest financial risk.
In contrast, scholars outside the United States view population health as much closer to the classic notions of social determinants of health. International (non-U.S.) researchers and policymakers attempt to isolate the contributions that socioeconomic factors make to health status and intervene accordingly, politics willing. In the United States, however, population health is more about the health and health care of people posing financial risk than about factors affecting the health status of the entire population such as housing, education and income. For the full article click here
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