DSOC 3280

Fundamentals of Population Health

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2021-2022.

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 specific patient groups "attributed" to accountable healthcare organizations using a variety of methods. With roots in epidemiology, public health, and demography, key tools of population health include health measurement, risk stratification, chronic care management, identifying "upstream" social determinants of health, cross-sector collaboration to improve prevention and wellness, and increasing health equity. 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 (and achieve the Triple Aim) will be well‐positioned for jobs in health care, health policy, public health, and medicine (among others) as the field continues to evolve.

When Offered Fall.

Permission Note Enrollment limited to: sophomores, juniors, or seniors.
Prerequisites/Corequisites Recommended 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.

• Apply a population health and health equity perspective to problem solving.
• Calculate and use for decision‐making, key population health metrics and methods.
• Leverage publicly available social, place, demographic, and health data to analyze the health of a local community.
• Synthesize existing tools to design a population-tailored social determinants of health (SDH) screening tool.
• Analyze claims data to identify "high cost" patients and build tailored care teams to support patient needs.
• Build an Excel tool to identify patients at high risk for readmission following surgery and develop a tailored care transition plan designed to reduce readmissions.
• Recommend population health management practices (i.e., risk stratification, care coordination, complex care management, patient engagement, cross‐sector collaboration), population health delivery models (e.g., medical homes, telehealth), and payment models (e.g., capitation; Medicaid waivers), to achieve the Triple Aim.
• Consider different perspectives and demonstrate multicultural competence and inclusive communication while working in diverse groups or sharing in Discussion posts.
• Explain how structural racism contributes to observed health disparities and apply a health equity framework to class projects and discussions.
• Demonstrate flexibility, adaptability, and a growth mindset as we navigate a potentially shifting class environment.

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