From Public Health to Population Health: Epidemiological Yardsticks for Perinatal Care

Abstract

Perinatal epidemiology and health services research have focused on specific health outcomes or disease states (“key” indicators and/or sentinel events), clients of public programs, and clinical service populations. In this paper, the concept of “population health” is defined and operationalized for the broad perinatal healthcare context within the framework of population health informatics. Traditional indicators and outcome measures for perinatal health are compared with some newer measures and assessed for their relevance to population health. A hypothetical model for the implementation of population health informatics for maternal and child health is described; in addition, and some obstacles to the practice of population health are identified, with strategies to overcome these obstacles.