Measuring Health

Theresa M Coles; Lesley H Curtis; L Ebony Boulware

doi:10.1016/j.pop.2019.07.002

Measuring Health

Prim Care. 2019 Dec;46(4):485-491. doi: 10.1016/j.pop.2019.07.002. Epub 2019 Aug 2.

Authors

Theresa M Coles¹, Lesley H Curtis², L Ebony Boulware³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University, 215 Morris Street, Durham, NC 27701, USA. Electronic address: Theresa.Coles@Duke.edu.
² Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University, 215 Morris Street, Durham, NC 27701, USA; Duke Clinical Research Institute, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.
³ Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University, 215 Morris Street, Durham, NC 27701, USA; Department of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA; Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA.

PMID: 31655745
DOI: 10.1016/j.pop.2019.07.002

Abstract

Primary care clinicians care for an extremely diverse range of patients, and they therefore have numerous opportunities to measure and act to improve the health of various populations. In order to take effective actions to improve the health of their patient populations, primary care clinicians must measure health. Strong population health metrics are characterized by their high validity, consistency, feasibility, and interpretability. Population health metrics should be applied longitudinally to obtain the most information from available data. Optimal population health metrics are actionable and facilitate the implementation of effective strategies to improve population health through administrative or clinical programs.

Keywords: Health measurement; Metric; Population health; Primary care.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Humans
Physicians, Primary Care
Population Health* / statistics & numerical data
Quality Indicators, Health Care*