Preventing Chronic Disease: September 2010: 10_0175

Creating Incentives to Improve Population Health
Steven Lewis
Suggested citation for this article: Lewis S. Creating incentives to improve population health. Prev Chronic Dis 2010;7(5).
http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2010/sep/10_0175.htm. Accessed [date].

Introduction
How do communities improve the health of their populations? For the past century, we have not been required to think deeply about the question because health status steadily improved. Life expectancy increased by 30 years in prosperous countries between 1900 and 2000. But now the question is emerging as one of the most important we face. The rate of “natural” improvement in health status appears to be slowing, and decline is not unthinkable if the sharp rise in the prevalence of chronic conditions such as obesity and type 2 diabetes continues unabated. Research identifying the nonmedical determinants of health has flourished in recent decades. The correlations are well understood, but the causes of health disparities and the extent to which they can be mitigated remain debatable. How do societies come to take population health improvement seriously? One potential pathway is incentives.



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Preventing Chronic Disease: September 2010: 10_0175