Using Metrics to Improve Population Health

A logic model with theoretical, philosophical, or political grounding is an essential first step. A model conceptualizes the production of population health, and metrics are chosen on the basis of that conceptualization. To achieve population health, for example, should we seek improvements in access to care, in medical or disease conditions, or in the social, political, and economic underpinnings of society itself? Metrics are the yardstick by which assumptions in the model will be tested. They measure evidence of actual inputs, outputs, and outcomes. When choosing metrics associated with incentives, we must decide what type or magnitude of change we seek.