Develoment of a Standard Health Indicator Model for Population Health Status

Development of a Standard Health Indicator Model for Population Health Status Brett Trusko, PhD, Rex Brooks, Fulton Wilcox and Peter Elkin, MD Development of an objective measure of community health status has remained an elusive goal of public health providers, NGOs and governments throughout the world. The International Healthcare Continuum Technical Committee of the OASIS international standards organization has developed a draft standard to create an objective measure of population health that can be utilized in any community in the world. The standard addresses the following dimensions of community health: 1) Health Status a. Well being b. Health conditions c. Human function d. Deaths 2) Non-medical Determinants of Health a. Health behaviors b. Social and community factors c. Environmental factors d. Genetic factors e. Socioeconomic factors 3) Health System Performance a. Acceptability b. Accessibility c. Appropriateness d. Competence e. Continuity f. Effectiveness g. Efficiency h. Safety 4) Community and Health System Characteristics a. Resources b. Population c. Health system The paper will discuss the ISO framework standard for health indicators and how this computable model of health indicators will help address the needs of population health. We will also address the initial scientific findings and supporting documentation for each category of the Health Indicator standard. We will describe the conceptual framework for the computer models that support this draft standard. We will gather input from the audience as to if and how the models can be improved. This paper will discuss the dimensions and relationships of each variable, offer supporting documentation and offer recommendations on adoption and creation of a standard measure for a community.