David Kindig, in a HealthAffairs blog, asks what we mean when we say “population health”.

He notes:

“Many progressive healthcare organizations are doing cutting edge population health management, but are also working with other partners on total population health across geographic populations, such as the approach Health Partners board has taken in the Twin Cities. In such cases, it would be appropriate to label these efforts as population medicine expanding into total population health.

”Semantics like this can seem arcane, but they also ensure that we clearly understand each other. For the next decade we need to be clear about these two ways of thinking about population health, how they interact, and the important work going on in both of them.”