A New Tool for Improving Health

The United States spends more than twice as much as any other country in the world on healthcare, yet the life expectancy in the U.S. is shorter than in many other high-income countries. Recent analyses also show that “improvements in population health [e.g., life expectancy, years lived in good health] in the United States have not kept pace with advances in population health in other wealthy nations,” despite what we spend on health care. Maybe our traditional emphasis on individual patient care needs to better complemented with efforts directed at populations.
Indeed, there is incredible and growing interest of the healthcare system in “population health.”  Yet, public health agencies and the healthcare system have different definitions for population health, one defined largely by jurisdiction (public health) and one generally more limited to enrolled patients or to those who seek clinical services (health care system). These different definitions often lead to independent uncoordinated interventions to improve health. There are tremendous opportunities in the current context to improve the public’s health through partnership between the public health and health care sectors. We can work together to achieve the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple Aim: better care, lower cost, and improved population health. Together, both systems can lower the number who need care, improve the quality of clinical care and other services that they receive, AND improve the overall health of communities.
On March 5, the de Beaumont Foundation, Duke Community and Family Medicine, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention launched a new website, A Practical Playbook: Public Health & Primary Care Together. (practicalplaybook.org). The Practical Playbook is a free, web-based tool designed to facilitate public health and primary care integration by offering a variety of resources for primary care providers and public health officials.
The Practical Playbook builds on local successes, shares lessons learned, and offers concrete guidance and resources for executing a collaborative public health project. In these ways, the initiative aims to advance public health and primary care integration throughout the United States, and to help us achieve our mutual goals of improving the health of the United States. ThePractical Playbook follows in the footsteps of many studies and prior efforts showing that public health and primary care integration leads to better management of chronic illness, increased quality of care, and control of health care costs. Under the Learn icon, one can follow links that describe what integration is, and what it is not, and the value of working together, including the five principles for successful collaboration outlined by the Institute of Medicine. The Do icon provides guidance for how to start an integrative project or move your project forward with searchable tools and resources, such as how to pick a goal. Finally, the Share icon leads to various success stories, with point of contacts, and (coming soon) an opportunity to connect with others. These resources, tools, and stories demonstrate how communities across the country are working together to improve population health for a variety of conditions.
During the first two months since going live, the Practical Playbook had nearly 10,000 visits, almost 3,000 of them repeat visitors, demonstrating a deep interest in this endeavor from the public health and medical communities. Version 1.0 of the Playbook is a unique, one-stop shop to bring together resources, guidance, and success stories to inspire and assist our public health and health care partners in working together.  The Playbook serves as an important vehicle for collecting resources and stories, providing technical guidance as it is developed, and identifying what is (and what is not) working in such collaborations. By spreading the word we hope to support improvement of care and achievement of better health outcomes.
What is your state doing to encourage improved collaboration between public health and health care in this time of health system transformation? Are you ensuring that your health system colleagues are aware of the value public health partnership brings?  Are you using the strategies and tools identified in the Playbook? Let us know in the comments below and share your success story!