Population Health Management: the Key to Improving Community Health Outcomes​

In 2015, Xerox published an eBook with findings from experts at the Yale School of Medicine ​called How Social Factors Shape Population Health,​ that​ outlines how environmental and social factors influence roughly 60% of an individual’s health​ and not medical interventions.

The ​book also​ illustrates factors such as socioeconomic status, employment, and housing rates ​that ​play a part in determining the type of community that is fostered and therefore the factors that influence an individual’s health. Communities with higher rates of poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, etc., are the most vulnerable​. H​ealthcare providers and organizations at the forefront of healthcare initiatives are reinvesting in community health efforts, and instead of ​simply ​treating individuals ​with a medical intervention they are providing population health management services that provide individuals with preventative care methods.

In 2014 the ​Thomas and Jeanne ​Elmezzi ​Private ​Foundation began ​supporting ​a pilot population health management program with Mt. Sinai Queens in order to provide similar types of preventative care ​and supports to the LIC and Astoria communities. Through ​this program there has ​already ​been a drop in the number of emergency room visits ​to date ​from patients that have engaged with the population health management program. ​We look forward to seeing further improvement as the program embeds itself in the community and the hospital. ​