In this assignment, you will show your ability to complete the following course outcomes:
Evaluate health promotion and disease management strategies for their efficacy in addressing factors that determine population health status
Evaluate healthcare organizations’ patient engagement activities and communication strategies for the extent to which they demonstrate cultural competence for improving population health outcomes
Assess the extent to which healthcare organizations use the population health approach to reduce costs and improve quality of care
Propose recommendations that improve healthcare organizations’ effectiveness in advancing the population health approach
Overview
The final project for this course is an analysis of a hospital, state, or federally funded healthcare organization with recommendations that will evaluate the cultural competence of an organization and the ways it provides services from a population health approach framework. It is important for healthcare organizations to use strategies for improving services to a diverse population in order to provide quality care to all patients. 
A population health approach unifies, integrates, and balances prevention and promotion, health protection, diagnosis, treatment, and care. It acknowledges and reflects evidence that factors outside of the healthcare system can significantly affect health. It considers the entire range of individual and collective factors and conditions—and their interactions—that have been shown to be correlated with health status. Commonly referred to as the “determinants of health,” these factors currently include income and social status, social support networks, education, employment/working conditions, social environments, physical environments, personal health practices and coping skills, healthy child development, biology and genetic endowment, health services, gender, and culture.
A population health approach focuses on improving the health status of a population, rather than of individuals. Such a focus necessitates reducing disparities, or inequalities in health status among population groups. The outcomes or benefits of a population health approach, therefore, extend beyond improved population health outcomes to include an integrated health system and increased social cohesion and citizen engagement.
The project is divided into three milestones which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Four, and Six. The final project will be submitted in Module Seven.
In this assignment, you will show your ability to complete the following course outcomes:
Evaluate health promotion and disease management strategies for their efficacy in addressing factors that determine population health status
Evaluate healthcare organizations’ patient engagement activities and communication strategies for the extent to which they demonstrate cultural competence for improving population health outcomes
Assess the extent to which healthcare organizations use the population health approach to reduce costs and improve quality of care
Propose recommendations that improve healthcare organizations’ effectiveness in advancing the population health approach
Prompt
Select a hospital, state, or federally funded healthcare organization. Based on what you learned and the course material, you will evaluate the cultural competence of the healthcare organization. 
Specifically the following critical elements must be addressed:
Patient engagement activities and communication strategies
Critique the organization’s translation and interpretation services. Be sure to provide evidence to support your claims.
Does the organization provide such services for non-English speaking patients?
How many different languages are supported?
How might the organization communicate with a speaker of a language that is not supported?
Analyze the extent to which educational resources and materials are available in languages other than English. Be sure to provide specific examples.
Assess organizational staff training for its potential to foster cultural competence. Be sure to provide evidence to support your claims.
Examine training programs for patient engagement and communication.
Identify gaps or deficiencies. Provide evidence to support your claims. If you feel there are none, be sure to explain your reasoning.
Examine gaps in areas that may exist in the organization’s patient engagement and communications strategies.
Health promotion and disease prevention and management strategies
Assess the organization’s health promotion efforts. Be sure to provide evidence to support your claims.
Examine programs such as fitness classes, blood pressure clinics, first aid training, nutrition education, etc., that it may offer to patients.
Evaluate the efficacy of disease prevention and management programs and services in addressing population health determinants. Be sure to provide evidence to support your claims.
Examine programs and services such as discharge planning, home health services, vaccination services, etc.
Analyze non-programmatic services for their impact on factors that determine population health status.
Examine programs such as transportation, onsite childcare, etc.
Identify gaps or deficiencies. Provide evidence to support your claims. If you feel there are none, be sure to explain your reasoning.
Examine common areas where gaps may exist in the organization’s health promotion and disease prevention and management efforts.
Financial incentives and quality improvement processes
Analyze population health-oriented policies. Be sure to provide evidence to support your claims.
Examine policies such as non-discrimination in hiring, care and treatment, Patient Bill of Rights, financial assistance, etc., that the organization may have implemented for reducing costs and improving overall quality.
Assess the extent of the organization’s approach to which care is considered patient-centered. Be sure to cite specific examples to substantiate your claims.
Analyze specific strategies the organization employs to reduce costs and improve overall quality.
Examine strategies such as eliminating unnecessary procedures and providing only essential treatments or interventions.
Identify gaps or deficiencies. Provide evidence to support your claims. If you feel there are none, be sure to explain your reasoning.
Examine common areas where gaps may exist in the organization’s use of the population health approach in reducing costs and improving quality of care.
Recommendations
Recommend appropriate strategies for improving the organization’s cultural competence with regard to patient engagement and communications. Be sure to use research to support your reasoning.
Suggest appropriate health promotion and disease prevention strategies for improving outcomes in terms of population health status. Be sure to use research to justify your suggestions.
Recommend appropriate policies and strategies that increase the organization’s use of a population health approach to reduce costs and improve overall quality of care. Be sure to use research to substantiate your recommendations.
Milestones
Milestone One: Patient Engagement Activities and Communication Strategies
In Module Three, you will submit Section I of the analysis, in which you will address the patient engagement activities and communication strategies of the health organization. Specifically, you will critique the organization’s translation services, educational materials, and staff training options. You should consider things such as the variety of language options, how well the organization meets the language requirements of its service demographic, and how well staff training addresses key cultural competence issues. This milestone should be two to three double-spaced pages. This milestone is graded with the Milestone One Rubric.
Textbook: Population Health: Creating a Culture of Wellness, Building Cultures of Health and Wellness, Chapters 1 and 14
Article: The Emergence of Population Health in U.S. Academic Medicine  
This article shows how and why academic medical centers are rising to the challenge of addressing the growing need for enhanced population health. Students will gain a comprehensive perspective on why academic medicine is now integrating with public health as well as delivery systems and communities. 
Article: What Is Population Health?
This article introduces the concept of population health and how it differs from public health.   
Website: National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) in Health and Healthcare  
This website will familiarize you with the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS). This will assist you in becoming more culturally aware, competent, and sensitive to the needs of diverse populations.  
Article: School Nurse Cultural Competency Development Using the National CLAS Standards  
The article demonstrates how the National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) is used as a framework to initiate cultural competency development among school nurses.