The Population Health Model: A Timely Approach for Mission Hospitals
Abstract
Mission hospitals have long provided a source of care, healing, and spiritual support for populations around the world, often serving the disadvantaged and rural residents not served by other facilities. Yet the future of mission hospitals has been thrown into doubt, and options for repurposing these institutions must be explored. The approach of mission hospitals to healthcare delivery has historically differed from those of other health systems (including many faith-based facilities) due to their isolated locations in lower-income countries. The multi-purpose attributes of mission hospitals make them excellent candidates for adopting a population health approach. The population health model, as now being developed in the United States, represents a radical departure from traditional clinical practice and reduces the system’s dependence on clinical care as a means to improving community health. The population health model emphasizes treatment of populations rather than individuals, a holistic approach to the provision of care (addressing social determinants in the process), and the involvement of the community in multi-sector collaboration for collective impact. Mainstream hospitals have had difficulty in implementing a true population health model for a variety of reasons, but mission hospitals appear to represent an effective vehicle for putting this model into practice. A population health approach appears to complement the philosophy of mission hospitals, and mission hospitals appear positioned to advance the population health movement.
References
Besterman W. The continuing abject failure of US healthcare. 2019. Available from: https://validationinstitute.com/the-continuing-abject-failure-of-us-healthcare/
Charan MS, Paramita S. Health programs in a developing country — why do we fail? Health Syst Policy Res. 2016;3:3. http:dx.doi.org/10.21767/2254-9137.100046
Cowling D. Inequalities in health care provision. Teaching Geography. 2014;29(2):56-9.
Deprez R, Thomas RK. Population health improvement: it’s up to the community — not the healthcare system. Maine Policy Rev. 2017;25(2):44-52.
Makary M, Daniel M. Medical error — the third leading cause of death in the U.S. BMJ. 2016. https://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.i2139
Thomas RK. 2020. Marketing Health Services. 4th ed. New York: Springer. 2020
Kernahan PJ. Was there ever a golden age of medicine? Minn Med. 2012 Sept. Available from: http://pubs.royle.com/article/Was+There+EverA+%E2%80%9CGolden+Age%E2%80%9D+Of+Medicine%3F/1159666/124206/article.html.
Brinkmann JT. Patient, client, or customer: what should we call the people we work with? O & P Edge. 2018 Apr. Available from: https://opedge.com/Articles/ViewArticle/2018-04-01/patient-client-or-customer-what-should-we-call-the-people-we-work-with
World Health Organization. 2019. NCD Mortality and Morbidity. 2019. Available from: https://www.who.int/gho/ncd/mortality_morbidity/en/#:~:text=Of%2056.9%20million%20global%20deaths,lower%20income%20countries%20and%20populations.
World Health Organization. The top 10 causes of death. 2016. Available from:: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death.
Health Research & Educational Trust. A playbook for fostering hospital-community partnerships to build a culture of health. Chicago, IL: Health Research & Educational Trust.
Johnson SR. Report: public health funding falls despite increasing threats. Mod Healthcare. 2019 Apr 24. Available from: https://www.modernhealthcare.com/government/report-public-health-funding-falls-despite-increasing-threats.
Roeder A. ZIP code better predictor of health than genetic code. 2014. Available from: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/features/zip-code-better-predictor-of-health-than-genetic-code/
Asante RKO. Sustainability of church hospitals in developing countries: a search for criteria for success. Amsterdam: World Council of Churches. 1998.
Currat LJ. The global health situation and the mission of the church in the 21st century. Int Rev Mission. 2006;95(376/377):7-20.
Idler EL. Religion as a determinant of public health. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2014.
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Engaging faith communities as partners in improving community health. Atlanta: Center for Disease Control and Prevention. 1999
Christian Journal for Global Health applies the Creative Commons Attribution License to all articles that we publish. Under this license, authors retain ownership of copyright for their articles or they can transfer copyright to their institution, but authors allow anyone without permission to copy, distribute, transmit, and/or adapt articles, even for commercial purposes so long as the original authors and Christian Journal for Global Health are appropriately cited.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.