Preventing Chronic Disease: July 2010: 10_0016 / Evaluating Metrics to Improve Population Health

Volume 7: No. 4, July 2010

ESSAY
Evaluating Metrics to Improve Population Health

Linda T. Bilheimer, PhD
Suggested citation for this article: Bilheimer LT. Evaluating metrics to improve population health. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(4). http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/jul/10_0016.htm. Accessed [date].

Introduction
The 7 metrics articles in this issue of Preventing Chronic Disease address the following topics: public health policy (1), health care access and quality (2), social and economic determinants (3), health behaviors (4), environmental metrics (5), population health outcomes (6), and health inequalities (7). The articles differ in the degree to which they establish a conceptual framework for linking metrics to rewards to improve population health. Their different perspectives raise questions of whether these metrics should meet certain criteria, regardless of domain, or whether some flexibility in the criteria for assessing metrics is necessary and desirable. Questions that arise in establishing such criteria relate to structure and function as well as data availability.

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Preventing Chronic Disease: July 2010: 10_0016