Population health includes health determinants of specific groups, which can be a country, a community, or a more specific group, such as the elderly, prisoners, or children, to name a few. Population health is not public health. Population health has been defined as a study of factors that influence the health of a group over a lifetime by observing patterns and implementing health policy to improve the health of that population. Consider the following scenario:

You are a population health professional who is working on a leading health indicator (LHI) to increase screening for hypertension, diabetes, rectal cancer, or child immunizations. You would like to develop an educational handout for patients and their families to increase the likelihood that these patients will engage in preventive health options to address this LHI. However, before you can develop an educational handout that will be used in physician’s offices, urgent care centers, and free healthcare clinics, you will have to conduct a brief cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) to determine the costs associated with participating in preventive health alternatives or foregoing participation in such efforts.

To Prepare:

• Review the Learning Resources for this week, including the presentation by Joanne Silberner on Blue Zones (National Public Radio).
• Access and review the Healthy People 2020 Progress Report by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2014) provided in this week’s Learning Resources.
• Select one of the following LHIs to focus on for your Assignment (LHIs are found under the Clinical Preventive Services tab):
  • Hypertension
  • Diabetes
  • Rectal Cancer
• Find one population health program that has been successful in addressing the LHI you selected. You can find a successful program at any of the following websites (found in the Learning Resources):
  • HealthyPeople.gov website
  • The Community Guide website
  • Walden Library
• Review the HealthyPeople.gov (2018) website provided in this week’s Learning Resources and select one population health program that has been successful in addressing the LHI you selected.
• Review the cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) table provided in this week’s Learning Resources and consider how costs might be minimized through the implementation of preventive efforts aimed at addressing the LHI you selected.
• Reflect on how you would design an educational handout to educate patients and their families on the effectiveness benefits of participating in screening/preventive care for the LHI you selected.

The Assignment: (1– to 2– page Educational Handout and a 1– to 2– page Narrative Summary)

You are a population health specialist who has researched a special population and needs to create an educational handout to make sure patients, who fit into the special population, understand the importance of managing or preventing their chronic illness. Consider the economic and social implications of helping people get healthy and maintain their health and avoid hospital readmissions. Connecting patients to support groups, services in their community, or other programs will improve health.

Part I. Educational Handout (1 – 2 pages)

Create a 1– to 2– page patient education handout for the LHI you selected above. This handout will be patient-focused and should be written at a sixth-grade level. (Note: There is a SMOG analysis tool in the Learning Resources that can help you to determine the readability of your handout.)

• The goal is to identify and manage or prevent chronic illness. You can use pictures, graphs, charts, etc. to make your handout eye catching and get the point across.
• Be sure your handout is easy to read and can be understood by the general population. If you use images, make sure these are not copyrighted and are culturally diverse and appropriate.
• Be sure to cite and reference any supporting documentation at the end of your document.

The following are examples of patient education handouts that you can use to guide you.