Population Health Management: an event summary
How can clinicians in primary care improve the health of the populations they serve?
I was excited to attend this event on population health. For me I was not sure how a general practitioner (GP) might even begin to change the health of their population. Was there something we could do beyond a single consultation at a time? Did I have to be a GP partner? There were three great speakers who were introduced by Mateen Jiwani, Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) Board member for North West London who could provide some answers to these daunting questions.
Martin McShane (Chief Medical Officer for Clinical Delivery for Optum Healthcare) introduced us to the concept of population health management, to anticipate health needs for a population using an integrated efficient healthcare system. For me I found theographs, the visual longitudinal mapping of healthcare contacts particularly interesting. Was it possible to identify when patients were going to be admitted to hospital through tracked changes in healthcare and health-seeking behaviour? Here are some examples of how population health management can drive change.
“It is 10% about the data and 90% about behaviour.”
Dr Sakthi Karunanithi, DPH Lancashire County Council
Sanjiv Ahluwalia (London Regional Postgraduate Dean for Health Education England [HEE]) described the difficulties in interpreting population health data and ways that clinicians can get directly involved in improving the health of their population through the HEE Population Health Fellowship programme, recruitment for which is anticipated in Summer 2020. Similarly, there are other fellowship programmes including the Topol Digital Fellowship programme and the NHS Clinical Entrepreneur training programme. It was inspiring to hear from both Dr Ahluwalia and Dr Massah Amin, a HEE fellow, reflect on their leadership journeys and how seizing opportunities opens further doors. This has provided them with professional growth but also opportunity to improve the health of the populations that they serve. Learn more about population health here.
“Opportunities multiply as they are seized.”
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
For everyone in the room, from medical students to health scientists and qualified GPs, Farzana Hussain (Primary Care Network [PCN] Director) described how she was combating the massive socio-economic deprivation in the area. She went on to describe how healthcare contributes up to 20% of person’s health outcomes. The remainder of a person’s health is determined by social and economic factors such as employment and access to education. This made me think about Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett’s book “The Spirit Level” which was discussed in this video. Another useful book is Michael Marmot’s “The Health Gap” the essence of which can be found in this video and pictorially in this map of London.
Dr Hussain’s role as PCN director is complex but gives her control to impact these socio-economic determinants by uniting clinical care with the other healthcare providers along with the council and voluntary sector. One of the easiest ways for anyone to get involved is to attend their local PCN meeting. There are some helpful PCN resources on the National Association of Primary Care website.
“Why treat people and send them back to the conditions that made them sick?”
Professor Sir Michael Marmot, Director of the Institute of Health Equity
Thank you to the organising team for this event that was undoubtedly a success. Stay connected on the website, Twitter and Facebook for details of upcoming events.
