Are Hospitals Committed to Population Health Collaborations?
By - Population health is an area of strong interest and focus for hospitals and community partners, confirms a recent survey of over 1,400 hospitals conducted earlier this year from the Health Research & Educational Trust, the Association for Community Health Improvement, and the Public Health Institute. Garnered responses offer new insight into the population health construction, community partnerships, and how community health needs are evaluated.
Key findings: population health structure
Regarding the survey’s key findings on population health, 85 percent of hospitals confirm “strong or total commitment” to population health or have vision statements involving “population health.” (The execution of such vision statements is perhaps yet to be determined.)
Seventy percent of hospitals consider a “population” as patients utilizing their health system. Almost the same amount of hospitals (69%) considers “population” as a geographic service area. Ninety percent of hospitals agree population health aligns with their mission. Nineteen percent “strongly” agree they have available financial resources for population health. Nearly 20 percent of hospitals state they have programs in place to address the socioeconomic determinants of health.
Key findings: partnerships
Regarding the survey’s key findings on partnerships, there is noted variation among hospital and community partnerships. Nearly 9 in 10 hospitals confirm “some degree” of a working relationship with local hospitals. Sixty-nine percent of hospitals confirm they are part of a community-wide coalition.
Close to ninety percent of hospitals collaborate with other hospitals, confirms the survey. Seventy percent of survey respondents confirm participation in a regional collaborative. Common partners include health insurance companies, community health centers, FQHCs, community clinics, and Chambers of Commerce. The most unlikely partners are noted as housing/community development and transportation authorities.
Key findings: community health needs assessment (CHNA)
According to highlights about CHNA information, half of CHNAs involve an outside resource, such as a consultant. Consultants are most commonly used for collecting and evaluating data, community engagement, and advancing the overall structure of CHNAs. Nearly 1 in 4 hospitals partner with an outside organization for the CHNA, such as another hospital or a public health department. CHNAs are conducted independently 17 percent of the time. The most common reason to independently conduct a CHNA (88 percent) is that hospital or health care systems have the internal capacity to do so.
Key findings: how CHNAs are used
The survey additionally confirms a CHNA’s “most important use” is the integration of population health into the hospital’s strategic plan. Ranked secondly is its use to target programs or services to improve population health. The third most vital use for CHNAs is listed as increasing collaboration with community partnerships to best address identified needs.
Closing thoughts
Population health management is imperative to discuss, especially in relation to other recently trending healthcare buzzwords, such as the Internet of Things and telehealth. As healthcare providers continuously pursue intelligent knowledge and actionable data to enhance the patient management experience, it is hopeful the aforementioned findings can provide deeper insight into where the notion of population health sits so the healthcare industry can continue providing high quality, low-cost care.
