The field of population health examines a diverse range of environmental, physical, and cultural conditions that occur within populations; considers the health outcomes influenced by these conditions; and seeks the development of policies and interventions to improve health and minimize health inequities in an efficient and affordable manner.

Population Health: Principles and Applications for Management provides the building blocks for taking a population health approach, which represents a new way of promoting health, preventing disease, and navigating public health and healthcare challenges in an ever-changing environment. The book explains the key principles, skills, and applications of public health; describes how a healthcare administrator can use epidemiology, the basic science of public health, to understand and address the needs of communities; and then synthesizes this information to provide an introduction to population health management.

Key topics include the following:

Bolstered by a variety of case studies and exercises, this book provides students with a conceptual framework that can be further developed and expanded through subsequent experiences in the workplace. Although the specific public health and healthcare issues facing communities will inevitably change over time, this framework will remain essential to efforts to improve the health of populations.

Rosemary M. Caron, PhD, MPH, is a professor and chair of the Department of Health Management and Policy in the College of Health and Human Services (CHHS) at the University of New Hampshire (UNH). She previously served as director of the Master of Public Health program and as director of undergraduate studies in the department. Dr. Caron is also core faculty in UNH’s Community Development Policy and Practice master’s program. She was a faculty member in the New Hampshire Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities program and an adjunct associate professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth. She currently teaches population health in the Executive MBA in Health Administration program in the Business School at the University of Colorado in Denver. Dr. Caron received the 2011 Teaching Excellence Award at CHHS and the 2015 Outstanding Associate Professor Award at UNH. Her research on community-based participation in solving complex urban public health issues has been published in peer-reviewed journals, and she has authored or edited several books about the public health workforce and public health issues. She recently completed a management residency with a community hospital in New Hampshire.