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Role of Informatics in Bridging Public and Population Health

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Public Health Informatics and Information Systems

Part of the book series: Health Informatics ((HI))

Abstract

Population health is an evolving concept of healthcare. Population health aims to improve the health outcomes of defined populations by modifying health determinants that range from clinical to social and environmental factors. Both population and public health efforts aim to reach similar outcomes and target comparable determinants of health. Within healthcare operations, however, population health is driven by stratifying patients into groups of individuals with similar risks of undesired outcomes who will receive different types of interventions.

Informatics can potentially play a critical role in bridging the gap between population and public health efforts in a community. Sharing data on underlying determinants of health across public and private health systems is now possible due to recent advancements in health information systems. Although several statewide provider/payer-based population health programs that promote active collaborations with public health agencies through informatics exist, these efforts are still nascent.

This chapter examines the evolving concept of population health and how informatics can bridge the gap between population and public health. The chapter profiles two population health programs that leverage informatics in building what might be a model for other communities. The chapter also discusses the barriers and challenges to deploying informatics solutions to strengthen collaboration between population and public health efforts.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Diagram partially adapted from “Shortliffe & Cimino. Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Health Care and Biomedicine 4th edition; chapter 1, page 28; Springer-Verlag London 2014”

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins Center for Population Health IT, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Hadi Kharrazi, Roland Gamache & Jonathan Weiner

  2. Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Hadi Kharrazi, Roland Gamache & Jonathan Weiner

Authors
  1. Hadi Kharrazi
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  2. Roland Gamache
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  3. Jonathan Weiner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hadi Kharrazi .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Informatics and Clinical Epidemiology, Oregon Health & Science University, Portland, OR, USA

    J.A. Magnuson

  2. Department of Epidemiology, Indiana University, Richard M. Fairbanks School of Public Health, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Brian E. Dixon

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Kharrazi, H., Gamache, R., Weiner, J. (2020). Role of Informatics in Bridging Public and Population Health. In: Magnuson, J., Dixon, B. (eds) Public Health Informatics and Information Systems . Health Informatics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41215-9_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-41215-9_5

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-41215-9

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