Aligning Clinical and Public Health Systems for Population Health: Networks, Governance, and Incentives

This presentation offers insight on strategies that align delivery and financing systems for medical care, public health, and social services in ways that create better population health outcomes.

Dr. Glen Mays discusses questions of interest, implementation of effective population health improvement strategies, and overcoming collective action problems in implementation.

Conclusions and implications include:

• Large health gains accrue to comprehensive systems
• Health gains are larger for low-income populations and low-income communities
• Dense collaborative networks do more than just plan: prioritize, invest, evaluate, repeat (crowd-sourcing)
• Equity and opportunity: two-thirds of communities currently lack comprehensive systems
• Affordable Care Act incentives and resources (e.g., hospital community benefit, value-based health care payments, insurer and employer incentives, and public health agency accreditation) may help
• Sustainability and resiliency are not automatic