Online Program

Oral

Over the last decade, the concept of population health has grown in significance as a bridge between public health practice and health care delivery, and between the health sector and a broad array of sectors and disciplines. The IOM Roundtable on Population Health Improvement serves a forum for dialogue and for catalyzing action on the social determinants of health in ways that engage all relevant stakeholders and communities. In the course of four workshops, roundtable members and invited participants explored four topics (implications of the Affordable Care Act, health in all policies, movement-building for health, and resources for population health improvement) and a series of cross-cutting themes, including dimensions of health and place. A main theme of the workshop on population health implications of the ACA was the health care delivery system’s growing recognition of the importance of the geographic population with its specific social context and built environment. In a workshop on health in all policies approaches, The roundtable explored the health implications of policies that shape place -- streets, public transit, green and civic places, and finding win-wins (e.g., sustainability could save money and be good for health). During its third workshop, on the subject of accelerating a movement for health, participants described how and historic injustices that sparked social movements often pointed to places—such as places where racism was physically manifest, and places where disregard for workers exposed them to dangerous conditions. More recently in the history of public health, the tobacco control movement successfully marshaled the scientific evidence to persuade the judiciary and the court of public opinion that places filled with smoke were dangerous to health. The roundtable’s fourth workshop highlighted ways in which health care organizations have diversified their investments in the communities they serve, and how community development financial institutions implement increasingly sophisticated strategies to make places—neighborhoods, day care centers, housing—more health promoting.

Session Objectives: (1) List and describe two private sector financing models that could contribute to altering the built environment to improve health (2) Explain how present-day inequities in the social determinants of health are rooted in decades-old social policies (3) Discuss some of the lessons learned from the history of health-related social movements

CE Credits: Medical (CME), Health Education (CHES), Nursing (CNE), Public Health (CPH) , Masters Certified Health Education Specialist (MCHES)