How population health data can help primary care services to improve population health: a rural case study
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Date
2009
Authors
McNamara, Kevin Peter
Dunbar, James Anthony
Reddy, Prasuna
Philpot, Benjamin Joel
Vaughan, Clare Maree
Morgan, Mark Andrew
Janus, Edward Denis
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Government of South Australia Department of Health
Rights
Rights Holder
Abstract
Population health can be defined as ‘the health
outcomes of a group of individuals, including the
distribution of such outcomes within the group’.
This field of activity incorporates population-level
examinations of health outcomes, determinants of
health, and policies and interventions linking the two.
A unique outcome from population health data is
the identification of ‘sick populations’, where a high
average level of disease risk in a population is directly
related to the proportion of people at very high risk.
In addition, population health data provides a greater
understanding of the inter-relationship between multiple
determinants of health in affecting health outcomes.
Despite such benefits, population health approaches
to health care have been criticised for being almost
exclusively quantitative and epidemiological in focus,
and consequently lacking the context or aptitude to translate population-level information to changes in
clinical practice and health service delivery. Using a
rural Australian case study, this paper illustrates how
population health data can in fact stimulate important
changes to general practice and primary health care.
Description
Keywords
Public health, Health care, Rural health
Citation
McNamara, K.P., Dunbar, J.A., Reddy, P., Philpot, B.J., Vaughan, C.M., Morgan, M.A., & Janus, E.D., 2009. How population health data can help primary care services to improve population health: a rural case study. Public Health Bulletin South Australia, 6(2), 21-25.