PUBPOL 3280

Fundamentals of Population Health

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Population health focuses on the health and well-being of entire populations. Populations may be geographically defined, such as neighborhoods or counties; may be based on groups of individuals who share common characteristics such as age, race-ethnicity, disease status, or socioeconomic status; or may be specific patient groups attributed to accountable healthcare organizations using a variety of methods. With roots in epidemiology, public health, and demography, key tools of population health include health measurement, risk stratification, chronic care management, identifying upstream social determinants of health, cross-sector collaboration to improve prevention and wellness, and increasing health equity. Given the shifting health care environment - from fee-for-service to value-based care - students who are able to apply tools to measure analyze, evaluate, and improve the health of populations (and achieve the Triple Aim) will be well-positioned for jobs in health care, health policy, public health, and medicine (among others) as the field continues to evolve.

Forbidden Overlaps REF-FA25 GDEV 3280, PUBPOL 3280, PUBPOL 5280

Enrollment Information REF-F25 Enrollment limited to: sophomores, juniors, or seniors.

Distribution Requirements (SBA-AG), (SBA-HE)

Last 3 terms offered 2024FA, 2023FA, 2022FA

Learning Outcomes REF-FA25

• Apply a population health and health equity perspective to problem solving.
• Calculate and use for decision-making, key population health metrics and methods.
• Leverage publicly available social, place, demographic, and health data to analyze the health of a local community.
• Analyze claims data to identify high cost patients and build tailored care teams to support patient needs.
• Recommend population health management practices (i.e., risk stratification, care coordination, complex care management, patient engagement, cross-sector collaboration), population health delivery models (e.g., medical homes, telehealth), and payment models (e.g., capitation; Medicaid waivers), to achieve the Triple Aim.
• Consider different perspectives and demonstrate multicultural competence and inclusive communication while working in diverse groups or sharing in Discussion posts.
• Explain how structural racism contributes to observed health disparities and apply a health equity framework to class projects and discussions.

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