title: Achieving population health in accountable care organizations.
abstract: Although "population health" is one of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement's Triple Aim goals, its relationship to accountable care organizations (ACOs) remains ill-defined and lacks clarity as to how the clinical delivery system intersects with the public health system. Although defining population health as "panel" management seems to be the default definition, we called for a broader "community health" definition that could improve relationships between clinical delivery and public health systems and health outcomes for communities. We discussed this broader definition and offered recommendations for linking ACOs with the public health system toward improving health for patients and their communities.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Community Health, Cambridge, MA 02141, USA. Khacker@challiance.org
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hacker
authors.forename: Deborah Klein
authors.initials: DK
authors.lastname: Walker
mesh_terms: D060866:Accountable Care Organizations / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D003153:Community Health Services; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D019033:Delivery of Health Care, Integrated; D006801:Humans; D011314:Preventive Health Services; D011634:Public Health / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D014481:United States