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Social Medicine
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The 91̽»¨ Heritage College of Osteopathic Medicine is committed to providing students with educators who are leaders in the field of social medicine.
Our Mission
The Department of Social Medicine examines the dynamic interplay of people, culture and the environment, and its impact on health care delivery and health outcomes.
We are entering a new era of health care – an era driven by factors such as:
- the current and emerging crises around population health and health inequities; and
- the need for cost containment, better use of resources and better quality of care within the health care system.
In the U.S., changes in legislation and policy have shifted the balance toward integrated, continuous, patient-centered care delivered in the context of a medical home. IT-driven technologies are fundamental to this shift: Health care systems are required by law to provide coordinated patient care in the context of digital platforms. New reimbursement models based on health care performance incentives emphasize health promotion and disease prevention. Population health management has emerged as a new framework designed to respond to these legislative and policy changes. Population health management focuses on both high-risk patients and the preventive and chronic care needs of every patient.
The Department of Social Medicine is uniquely placed to prepare primary care physicians for practice in this new health care environment. We respond to both real-world health problems -- for example, the increasing rates of non-communicable diseases -- and the challenge of health care reform.
Our Expertise
- Health law, policy and ethics
- Population health and population health management
- Behavioral medicine
We focus on the following in our research and teaching programs:
- Improved service delivery to individuals and communities through seamless, team-based health care
- Increased efficiency and patient satisfaction through participatory, collaborative models of health care
- Improved population health and reduced health inequity in the context of population health management
- Health care transformation through IT: big data, predictive analytics, decision support regarding optimum treatment and quality outcomes