Shared Language for Shared Work in Population Health
C. J. Peek, John M. Westfall, Kurt C. Stange, Winston Liaw, Bernard Ewigman, Jennifer E. DeVoe, Larry A. Green, Molly E. Polverento, Nirali Bora, Frank V. deGruy, Peter Harper, Nancy J. Baker
Abstract
People working on behalf of population health, community health, or public health often experience confusion or ambiguity in the meaning of these and other common terms—the similarities and differences and how they bear on the tasks and division of labor for care delivery and public health. Shared language must be clear enough to help, not hinder people working together as they ultimately come to mutual understanding of roles, responsibilities, and actions in their joint work. Based on an iterative lexicon development process, the authors developed and propose a definitional framework as an aid to navigating among related population and community health terms. These terms are defined, similarities and differences clarified, and then organized into 3 categories that reflect goals, realities, and ways to get the job done. <i>Goals</i> include (a) <i>health</i> as well-being for persons, (b) <i>population health</i> as that goal expressed in measurable terms for groups, and (c) <i>community health</i> as population health for particular communities of interest, geography, or other defining characteristic—groups with shared identity and particular systemic influences on health. <i>Realities</i> are social determinants as influences, health disparities as effects, and health equity as both a goal and a design principle. <i>Ways to get the job done</i> include <i>health care delivery systems</i> for enrollees and <i>public health</i> in population-based civic activities—with a <i>broad zone of collaboration</i> where streams of effort converge in partnership with served communities. This map of terms can enable people to move forward together in a broad zone of collaboration for health with less confusion, ambiguity, and conflict.