View the Program at a Glance.

What is Population Health?

At its core, the population health approach is about achieving meaningful health outcomes for our communities. Healthcare professionals can better understand the health of the populations they serve through careful analysis of specific population groups. While a “population” is often defined in terms of geography, in the case of population health the term can also mean a group of employees, a particular ethnic group or people diagnosed with a certain disease or disability – just to name a few examples.

Population Health in Practice

So why is everyone starting to talk about population health? For one thing, recent healthcare reforms are now linking hospital and physician reimbursement to the health outcomes of their patients. Additionally, many hospital systems are now required to conduct community health needs assessments and report their findings. With the Affordable Care Act placing greater emphasis on data collection, it is now more important than ever for those working in healthcare to understand how to collect, interpret and share that data. 

Collaborating for Better Health

Improving the health of populations requires concerted effort from a wide range of disciplines. Healthcare professionals, administrators, researchers, insurance companies, tech support, data analysts, social services – all these and more play crucial roles in helping communities get healthy and stay healthy. Collaboration is the key to population health. Who better to teach you about collaboration than the faculty of Rosalind Franklin University?  For more than a decade, our faculty members have served as innovators and leaders of interprofessional education. They’ve identified population health as a driving force in healthcare, and are ready to teach you the skills you need to lead and innovate in your own organization.  

Opportunities for Job Growth

The healthcare industry needs employees with specialized knowledge of population health to develop and implement population health management strategies. The fields of community outreach, patient engagement, care coordination and population analytics in particular will need population health experts. Whether you’re looking to advance in your current role or take your talent to a new organization, mastering the fundamentals of population health can place you in very high demand. 

Visit our Population Health Certificate page to apply or request more information.

Population Health at a Glance

Population Health has been defined as “the health outcomes of a group of individuals, including the distribution of such outcomes within the group.” It is closely linked to achieving the Triple Aim of Healthcare – improving the health of populations, improving patient satisfaction and reducing healthcare costs.

Who Should Study Population Health?

It’s important to remember that the entire healthcare workforce contributes to the health of a population. From the administrators who manage the day-to-day operations of a clinic or hospital, to the doctors and nurses providing patient care, to those who work in case management or patient engagement – regardless of the role you play, your work impacts the population you serve.

What You’ll Learn

Our Certificate in Population Health Strategies is offered entirely online, so you don’t have to put your career on hold while advancing your education. This certificate program will give you a solid foundation in the following areas:

• Essentials of Population Health
• Community Health Assessment
• Risk and Quality Management in Healthcare
• Statistics for Healthcare Professionals