Multi-Sector Population Health Activities Reduce Income-Related Disparities in Life Expectancy

This presentation highlights research linking income and life expectancy data with the 1998-2014 National Longitudinal Survey of Public Health Systems to examine whether the existence and strength of multi-sector population health improvement activities influence income-related disparities in life expectancy over time.

The presentation addresses:

• How strong are the delivery systems that support foundational capabilities for population health?
• How do these delivery systems change over time (e.g, recession, recovery, Affordable Care Act implementation)?
• How do these delivery systems influence health and economic outcomes?

Dr. Glen Mays presents on research findings that community capacity to implement widely-recommended population health activities is one important contributor to geographic variation in the relationship between income and life expectancy. Policies that encourage multi-sector contributions to population health activities, such as hospital community benefit standards and accountable health community models, may reduce socioeconomic and geographic disparities in health status.