StanfordOnline: Introduction to Population Health

A growing body of knowledge recognizes social, community, environmental, and global factors driving population health outcomes. This overview of population health offers participants a nuanced understanding of key determinants, a framework, and actionable strategies for improvement.

This course defines essential concepts such as population health, social determinants of health, and the built environment. Participants can explore how these drivers intersect and shape health outcomes at the individual, community, and environmental levels, examining associations among socioeconomic status, access to healthcare, environmental factors, and policy on population-level health outcomes.

In addition to describing key aspects of major payors in the U.S. healthcare system, we offer practical tools for busy clinicians to impact health outcomes inside and outside the clinical setting. Using interactive tools, participants will gain an understanding of key definitions in population health, organize determinants of health using a socio-ecological framework, recognize major payors in the US health care system, and apply practical tools to address disparities inside and outside the clinical setting.