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. Healthcare 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.