POPULATION HEALTH AND THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Earlier in this course you examined how health care organizations are beginning to look at value-based care, which often encompasses care across the continuum of health care services. You also considered how this was associated with new payment methodologies. Care across the continuum links to population health, which describes the outcomes of the health of the population, and to new payment methods through the ACA.

As a health care executive for a hospital, you have been responsible for caring for the patient in your hospital bed. In the last couple of years, your role has likely expanded to include determining how to keep patients from being re-hospitalized. With the implementation of the ACA, your role is expanding further to encompass population health.

For this Discussion, review the resources for this week and reflect on your role as a health care executive in implementing ACA provisions related to population health strategies. Reflect on the considerations you should keep in mind to fully comply with and enact population health strategies in light of ACA legislation.

Post a description of a specific population health strategy and explain how that strategy could be implemented. Include a description of the resources that would be required to implement the population health strategy and support your strategy with literature sources.