Academic Health Systems’ Third Curve: Population Health Improvement

Spurred by a rapidly changing health care landscape, many academic health systems are reconfiguring to move beyond individual patient care to population-specific management. During this time of transition, academic health systems also have a compelling opportunity to significantly advance broader population-wide health improvement efforts using nominal additional resources. Capitalizing on this opportunity requires systems to refocus on their ultimate mission of improving health and to collaborate with an expanded set of partners to address the diverse factors determining health in their communities. Washington et al discuss academic health systems' third curve and explain why pursuing population health improvement is in the self-interest of academic health systems.