title: How to evaluate population management? Transforming the Care Continuum Alliance population health guide toward a broadly applicable analytical framework.
abstract: Many countries face the persistent twin challenge of providing high-quality care while keeping health systems affordable and accessible. As a result, the interest for more efficient strategies to stimulate population health is increasing. A possible successful strategy is population management (PM). PM strives to address health needs for the population at-risk and the chronically ill at all points along the health continuum by integrating services across health care, prevention, social care and welfare. The Care Continuum Alliance (CCA) population health guide, which recently changed their name in Population Health Alliance (PHA) provides a useful instrument for implementing and evaluating such innovative approaches. This framework is developed for PM specifically and describes the core elements of the PM-concept on the basis of six subsequent interrelated steps. The aim of this article is to transform the CCA framework into an analytical framework. Quantitative methods are refined and we operationalized a set of indicators to measure the impact of PM in terms of the Triple Aim (population health, quality of care and cost per capita). Additionally, we added a qualitative part to gain insight into the implementation process of PM. This resulted in a broadly applicable analytical framework based on a mixed-methods approach. In the coming years, the analytical framework will be applied within the Dutch Monitor Population Management to derive transferable 'lessons learned' and to methodologically underpin the concept of PM.
authors.affiliation: Harvard School of Public Health, Department of Health Management and Policy, United States; National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Center for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, Department for Quality of Care and Health Economics, The Netherlands. Electronic address: jeroen.struijs@rivm.nl.
authors.forename: Jeroen N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Struijs
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Center for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, Department for Quality of Care and Health Economics, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Hanneke W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Drewes
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Center for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, Department for Quality of Care and Health Economics, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Heijink
authors.affiliation: National Institute of Public Health and the Environment, Center for Nutrition, Prevention and Health Services, Department for Quality of Care and Health Economics, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Caroline A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Baan
mesh_terms: D002908:Chronic Disease; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019468:Disease Management; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Analytical framework; Evaluation; Population health management; Population management