PUBPOL 5280

Population Health for Health Managers

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 attributed to accountable healthcare organizations using a variety of methods. With roots in epidemiology, public health, and demography, a key component of population health is the focus on the social determinants of health and collaborative, holistic, patient-centered and coordinated care to improve population health, identify and reduce health disparities, improve healthcare quality, and reduce healthcare costs. Given the shifting health care environment - from fee-for-service to value-based care - healthcare managers who are able to apply tools to measure, analyze, evaluate and improve population health (one aim of IHI's Triple Aim) will be well-positioned for positions in health care as the field continues to evolve.

Forbidden Overlaps GDEV 3280, PUBPOL 3280, PUBPOL 5280

Enrollment Priority Enrollment limited to: graduate students.

Exploratory Studies (CU-CEL)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025SP, 2024SP, 2023SP, 2022SP

Outcomes

• 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 population.
• Synthesize existing tools to design a population-tailored social determinants of health (SDH) screening tool.
• Analyze claims data to identify high cost patients and build tailored care teams to support patient needs.
• Build an Excel tool to identify patients at high risk for readmission following surgery and develop a tailored care transition plan designed to reduce readmissions.
• 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.
• Demonstrate flexibility, adaptability, and a growth mindset as we navigate a potentially shifting class environment.

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