By David A. Kindig, MD, PhD
Yes, the online CDC journal Preventing Chronic Disease (PCD) has just released a compilation of 23 essays on current population health practice and scholarship relating broadly to population health metrics, incentives, and partnerships.
These essays were an early part of our Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded project called Mobilizing Action Toward Community Health (MATCH) at the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, which many readers know has evolved into County Health Rankings & Roadmaps efforts. In 2009, we commissioned essays to critique underlying assumptions about metrics, incentives, and partnerships and to suggest approaches for overcoming potential barriers to population health improvement.
The essays were discussed at a 2-day meeting in late 2009 in Madison among essay authors, University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation staff, along with several guests . During the meeting, participants developed an agenda for future practice and research activities for improving population health. This agenda is featured in the final essay of the set and has already led to new initiatives such as the Roadmaps to Health Prize.
With the able and enthusiastic assistance of the PCD Editor, Sam Posner, the essays were initially published in the July, September and November 2010 issues of PCD. Combining them together into a “one click” collection makes for a far-reaching, robust, and provocative population health policy virtual textbook.
I’ve highlighted a few essays below to demonstrate the breadth of the collection and hopefully pique your interest:
- R. Gibson Parrish on Measuring Population Health Outcomes
- Paula Lantz and Andrew Pritchard on Socioeconomic Indicators That Matter for Population Health
- Michael McGinnis on Observations of Incentives to Improve Population Health
- Raymond Baxter on Making Use of the Policies and Funding We Already Have
- Glen Mays and Doug Scutchfield on Improving Public Health System Performance Through Multiorganizational Partnerships
- Andrew Webber and Suzanne Mercure on Improving Population Health: The Business Community Imperative
Thanks again to Sam Posner and his staff at Preventing Chronic Disease for making these essays accessible to all – just a click away:
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/collections/pdf/PCD_MATCH_2010_web.pdf
David A. Kindig, MD, PhD is Emeritus Professor of Population Health Sciences and Emeritus Vice-Chancellor for Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. Follow him on twitter: @DAKindig.
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