Experts propose principles to guide population health policy

An article published online this month by the journal Population Health Management, co-authored by AHA Chief Medical Officer Jay Bhatt, D.O., proposes seven foundational principles of population health policy to inform the development of practical tools, research and education. The principles respond to seven policy questions: what is population health policy; what aspects of prevention should population health prioritize; how is population health policy developed; should population health policy be uniform; what standards should be used to measure the effectiveness of population health policy; how should population health policy be evaluated; and how does population health policy inform population health management. Bhatt, a practicing internist on the faculty at the Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, is president and CEO of AHA’s Health Research & Educational Trust affiliate.