Dunbar, James A

Janus, Edward

McNamara, Kevin

Morgan, Mark

Philpot, Benjamin

Reddy, Prasuna

Vaughan, Clare

USC Research Bank - University of the Sunshine Coast

How population health data can help primary care services to improve population health: a rural case study

Population health can be defined as ‘the health
outcomes of a group of individuals, including the
distribution of such outcomes within the group’.
This field of activity incorporates population-level
examinations of health outcomes, determinants of
health, and policies and interventions linking the two.
A unique outcome from population health data is
the identification of ‘sick populations’, where a high
average level of disease risk in a population is directly
related to the proportion of people at very high risk.
In addition, population health data provides a greater
understanding of the inter-relationship between multiple
determinants of health in affecting health outcomes.
Despite such benefits, population health approaches
to health care have been criticised for being almost
exclusively quantitative and epidemiological in focus,
and consequently lacking the context or aptitude to translate population-level information to changes in
clinical practice and health service delivery. Using a
rural Australian case study, this paper illustrates how
population health data can in fact stimulate important
changes to general practice and primary health care

McNamara, Kevin Peter

Dunbar, James Anthony

Philpot, Benjamin Joel

Vaughan, Clare Maree

Morgan, Mark Andrew

Janus, Edward Denis

Flinders Academic Commons

Dunbar, James

Philpot, Ben

Deakin Research Online

http://dspace.flinders.edu.au/xmlui/bitstream/handle/2328/26504/McNamara%20How.pdf?sequence=1

How population health data can help primary care services to improve population health: a rural case study

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USC Research Bank - University of the Sunshine Coast

Flinders Academic Commons

Flinders Academic Commons

Deakin Research Online