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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between ownership type and population health initiatives adopted by hospitals using the 2015 American Hospital Association data.

Hospitals of various sizes, ownership structures and geographic locations are represented in the survey. The outcome variables of interest include measures of hospital population health activities.

Findings indicate that nonprofit hospitals are most likely to express commitment to population health and participate in population health activities, with for-profit hospitals being least likely. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

This study demonstrates that discrepancies in population health approaches exist across ownership status – particularly, nonprofit hospitals appear to be the most likely to be involved in population health efforts.

As we continue to push for population health management in the hospital setting, grappling with the definition and purpose of population health management will be essential.

Overall, these results suggest that nonprofit hospitals are more likely to be implementing population health efforts than for-profit or government-owned hospitals.

Although there are several studies on population health in hospitals, this study is the first to investigate the relationship between ownership type and population health initiatives adopted by hospitals.

This chapter provides an introduction both to some major issues and concerns in the area of population health and major health problems, especially chronic health problems, and to the overall volume. The topic of population health is reviewed, beginning with the more public health approach of Kindig and that attempt to define the term and the outcomes of interests. The chapter will then move to an examination of the linkages between population health from a more specifically sociological perspective, and especially to relationships between social structure, including socioeconomic status, and health. The last part of this introductory chapter briefly discusses the other sections in the book and each of the chapters within those sections.

The recommended public healthcare infrastructure and human resources are essential to deliver healthcare services, particularly in tribal areas, as the country’s tribal population depends mainly on the public healthcare system for their medical needs. India has a substantial share of the tribal population, accounting for approximately 9% of the total population. The paper reviews the state of public healthcare infrastructure and human resources in tribal areas for a period that spreads over a decade.

The paper relied on data from the Government of India’s Rural Health Statistics (RHS) reports (2011–2012 and 2021–2022). From these reports, data on the physical infrastructure and human resources in the tribal areas were extracted. The extracted data were compiled and analyzed using Microsoft Excel.

The analysis showed that the improvement in public healthcare infrastructure and human resource situation in tribal areas of the country was not commensurate with the tribal population growth seen in the last decade. As a result, the average population covered by a health facility was greater than the prescribed norms in the tribal-dominated geographies. The health worker-population ratio at the primary healthcare level was also higher than the national norms. However, there was a substantial improvement in the doctor-population ratio at the primary health center level. In comparison to tribal-lean states, tribal-dominated states faced the concurrent challenge of a growing population and strained healthcare facilities and human resources. As a result, the healthcare infrastructure and human resource gap continued in the tribal-dominated states of the country. The gaps in health infrastructure and human resources in tribal-dominated states must be addressed as a priority under the health infrastructure strengthening efforts to ensure that the tribal population receives and has access to quality health care from publicly funded health facilities, leading to improved health outcomes in the tribal population and the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs).

We have not come across any paper that has carried out pancountry analysis of healthcare infrastructure and human resources in tribal areas.

The purpose of this paper is to consider how the evolving concept of the “primary care home” (PCH) that is developing in England might be an effective vehicle for the delivery of the goals of “population health”. The authors examine evidence from earlier initiatives to achieve similar objectives of primary care-led health system planning and care integration to understand relevant lessons for the PCH.

This paper is based on a descriptive review of the PCH using documentary sources and a non-systematic review of literature relating to primary care commissioning initiatives and recent initiatives to deliver general practice services on a larger scale.

The PCH is likely to bring forth relatively high engagement from general practitioners due to its neighbourhood scale, voluntary nature and its focus on professional partnership, personalisation of care and outcomes. It is important that participants have sufficient autonomy to act and that financial incentives are aligned with the goals of population health. It is also important that, unlike some earlier primary care initiatives, the PCH is given time to develop to maturity.

The PCH is a recent phenomenon that is developing in England and elsewhere. This paper locates the PCH within a historical context and draws conclusions from a relevant evidence base.

Epidemiology is often described as “the basic science of public health” (Savitz, Poole & Miller, 1999; Syme & Yen, 2000). This description suggests both a close association with public health practice, and the separation of “pure” scientific knowledge from its application in the messy social world. Although the attainability of absolute objectivity is rarely claimed, epidemiologists are routinely encouraged to “persist in their efforts to substitute evidence for faith in scientific reasoning” (Stolley, 1985, p. 38) and reminded that “public health decision makers gain little from impassioned scholars who go beyond advancing and explaining the science to promoting a specific public health agenda” (Savitz et al., 1999, p. 1160). Epidemiology produces authoritative data that are transformed into evidence which informs public health. Those data are authoritative because epidemiology is regarded as a neutral scientific enterprise. Because its claims are grounded in science, epidemiological knowledge is deemed to have “a special technical status and hence is not contestable in the same way as are say, religion or ethics” (Lock, 1988, p. 6). Despite the veneer of universality afforded by its scientific pedigree, epidemiology is not a static or monolithic discipline. Epidemiological truth claims are embodied in several shifting paradigms that span the life of the discipline. Public health knowledges and practices, competing claims internal and external to epidemiology, and structural conditions (such as current political economies, material technologies, and institutions) provide important contexts in which certain kinds of epidemiological knowledge are more likely to emerge.

Longitudinal data are required to characterise and measure the dynamics of income-related health inequalities (IRHI). This chapter develops a framework to evaluate the impact of population changes on the level of cross-sectional IRHI over time and thereby provides further insight into how health inequalities develop or perpetuate themselves in a society. The approach is illustrated by an empirical analysis of the increase in IRHI in Great Britain between 1999 and 2004 using the British Household Panel Survey. The results imply that levels of IRHI would have been even higher in 2004 but for the entry of youths into the adult population and deaths, with these natural processes of population turnover serving to partially mask the increase in IRHI among the resident adult population over the five-year period. We conclude that a failure to take demographic changes into account may lead to erroneous conclusions on the effectiveness of policies designed to tackle health inequalities.

At the beginning of the 21st century, multiple and diverse social entities, including the public (consumers), private and nonprofit healthcare institutions, government (public health) and other industry sectors, began to recognize the limitations of the current fragmented healthcare system paradigm. Primary stakeholders, including employers, insurance companies, and healthcare professional organizations, also voiced dissatisfaction with unacceptable health outcomes and rising costs. Grand challenges and wicked problems threatened the viability of the health sector. American health systems responded with innovations and advances in healthcare delivery frameworks that encouraged shifts from intra- and inter-sector arrangements to multi-sector, lasting relationships that emphasized patient centrality along with long-term commitments to sustainability and accountability. This pathway, leading to a population health approach, also generated the need for transformative business models. The coproduction of health framework, with its emphasis on cross-sector alignments, nontraditional partner relationships, sustainable missions, and accountability capable of yielding return on investments, has emerged as a unique strategy for facing disruptive threats and challenges from nonhealth sector corporations. This chapter presents a coproduction of health framework, goals and criteria, examples of boundary spanning network alliance models, and operational (integrator, convener, aggregator) strategies. A comparison of important organizational science theories, including institutional theory, network/network analysis theory, and resource dependency theory, provides suggestions for future research directions necessary to validate the utility of the coproduction of health framework as a precursor for paradigm change.

This paper highlights public health issues arising in prisons due to overcrowding – focusing on existence of tuberculosis (TB) and its transmission in a TB endemic country. It further addresses feasible TB management, to develop an applicable preventive intervention that will control TB transmission and development within and outside prisons. This study aims to decrease morbidity and mortality caused by TB by identifying latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) cases.

A novel cross-sectional study conducted on male prisoners of Central Prison Rawalpindi, dividing them into three strata, i.e. under-trial (UTP), convicted (CTP) and condemned (CP) prisoners. Prevalence of latent TB infection within prisoners was methodologically calculated using multiple statistical analysis at 95% confidence interval. This research sourced an invasive skin test (Mantoux test) for primary data collection from targeted key population.

This research calculated existing prevalence of LTBI at 47.25%, 47.45% and 53%, respectively in UTP, CTP and CP prisoners, and 32.2% in total prison population. Overcrowding, poor health conditions and excessive smoking presented strong statistical significance to high LTBI prevalence across the prison population.

Limitations included accessibility to prisons due to procedural concealment, and unannounced release of UTPs that was dealt through supplementary testing. The presented research findings highlight the disease spread across key populations, and the importance of identifying, containing and controlling them. It elaborates the crucial use of Mantoux tuberculin skin test (TST) to identify and isolate LTBI and potential TB cases in a closed population. It also facilitates policy implications that promote health and safety for prisoners, law enforcers and associated external population.

TB is one of the top 10 fatal illnesses and second highest infectious disease worldwide. For decades, TB ruled over human health and threatened their survival. Health-care professionals face challenges in locating, isolating, treating and controlling TB across the globe. Pakistan is a TB endemic country that internationally ranks fifth in nations with high TB burden. LTBI prevalence is unknown in Pakistan. Key populations are well-known to comparatively live with higher rates of infectious disease. Therefore, this research targeted a key population and has successfully calculated LTBI prevalence in overcrowded male prison population.

Key populations are at high risk of contracting and transmitting communicable diseases. They not only possess higher disease incidences, but are also responsible for disease-spread within and outside their community. Targeting them will help in controlling for LTBI across prison population as well as the external population that is associated with the prisoners. TST allowed maximum screening coverage, encapsulated LTBI, spread awareness and eliminated stigmatisation.

Prevalence of TB and LTBI are unknown in Pakistan. This novel research calculated LTBI prevalence through primary data collection and targeted key populations. Authors collected primary data on case-by-case basis. This study has efficaciously located and isolated LTBI cases among the sample population following internationally standardised TST procedures.

The Affordable Care Act is transforming health care practice nationwide through emphasis on population health and prevention. Health care organizations are increasingly required to address population health needs. However, they may be ill equipped to answer that call.

This study identified ways that health care organizations might better integrate public and population health efforts to better respond to this new emphasis on population health. Employing semi-structured key informant interviews, barriers to and facilitators of integration were explored and implications for health care and public health leaders were developed.

Participants (n = 17) – including senior hospital executives, group practice administrators, and health department officials – identified strategies for health care and public health leaders to more effectively integrate in order to achieve better performance and population health gains. These strategies and their implications are discussed.

The results of this study provide important value to health care administrators leading efforts to integrate population and public health.

Purpose: We review theory and research to suggest how research on sexual and gender minority (SGM) population health could more completely account for social class.

Approach: First, we review theory on social class, gender, and sexuality, especially pertaining to health. Next, we review research on social class among SGM populations. Then, we review 42 studies of SGM population health that accounted for one or more components of social class. Finally, we suggest future directions for investigating social class as a fundamental driver of SGM health.

Findings: Social class and SGM stigma are both theorized as “fundamental causes” of health, yet most studies of SGM health do not rigorously theorize social class. A few studies control socioeconomic characteristics as mediators of SGM health disparities, but that approach obscures class disparities within SGM populations. Only two of 42 studies we reviewed examined SGM population health at the intersections of social class, gender, and sexuality.

Research implications: Researchers interested in SGM population health would benefit from explicitly stating their chosen theory and operationalization of social class. Techniques such as splitting samples by social class and statistical interactions can help illuminate how social class and SGM status intertwine to influence health.

Originality: We synthesize theory and research on social class, sexuality, and gender pertaining to health. In doing so, we hope to help future research more thoroughly account for social class as a factor shaping the lives and health of SGM people.