DSOC 3280

Fundamentals of Population Health

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2020-2021.

Population health focuses on the health and well‐being of entire populations. Populations may be geographically defined, such as neighborhoods or counties; may be based on groups of individuals who share common characteristics such as age, race‐ethnicity, disease status, or socioeconomic status; or may be "attributed" to accountable healthcare organizations using a variety of methods. With roots in epidemiology, public health, and demography, a key component of population health management is the focus on the social determinants of health and collaborative, holistic, patient‐centered and coordinated care to improve population health, identify and reduce health disparities, improve healthcare quality, and reduce healthcare costs. Given the shifting health care environment – from fee‐for‐service to value‐based care – students who are able to apply tools to measure analyze, evaluate, and improve the health of populations will be well‐positioned for jobs in health care and medicine as the field continues to evolve.

When Offered Fall.

Permission Note Enrollment limited to: sophomores or above.
Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: at least one of the following: DSOC 1101, DSOC 2200, HD 1170, HD 2180, PAM 2030, PAM 2100, PAM 2208, PAM 2300, PAM 2350,  PSYCH 1101, SOC 1101. 
Forbidden Overlaps Forbidden Overlap: due to an overlap in content, students will not receive credit for both DSOC 3280 and PAM 5280.

• Understand the difference between population health, public health, and the medical model and apply the basic terminology and definitions of population health to the study of health, health determinants, health behaviors and healthcare utilization.
• Given health and population data, measure and calculate relevant population health metrics including but not limited to incidence, prevalence, quality of life, functional status/disability, well‐being, life expectancy, healthy life expectancy, morbidity and mortality.
• Given the metrics identified in objective #2, understand the current state of health and key health trends in the US.
• Identify sources of population health data; access, analyze, and interpret population health data; display population health data in a meaningful format (e.g., charts and graphs; trend analysis; bench-marking; hot spotting; predictive analytics).
• Recommend key population health management practices (i.e., care coordination, patient‐centered and holistic care, clinical integration, patient engagement, cross‐sector collaboration, risk sharing) and key population health structures (e.g., PCMHs, ACOs) to improve health.
• Identify the social determinants of health and health disparities within and across populations.
• Critically evaluate current health issues from a population health perspective.
• Understand and evaluate key epidemiological study designs and design components to make evidence‐ based management decisions.
• Utilize comparative analytics (bench-marking) to identify a population's health needs and gaps and derive relevant program and policy recommendations.
• Work effectively in diverse groups.

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