Population Health Project Examples

Population Health

A “population health” project is part of every GPE placement. The student spends 4 hours per working to design, implement, monitor, and improve a “stepped care pathway” for treating a designated population of patients who are cared for by the practice. These could be populations such as elderly patients being screened for dementia, children with asthma, patients with Opioid Use Disorder, patients with multiple chronic illnesses, or other populations picked under the guidance of the medical and behavioral health leadership of the partner practice site and AUNE faculty. The experience in population health is an aspect of the GPE program that is unique to the AUNE program. Our students have often pleasantly surprised when they interview for internships at how impressed many sites are by this credential.

Harbor Homes Health and Wellness Center

•Diabetes self-management program to decrease diabetes, anxiety, and depression symptoms

•ADHD-focused group therapy to improve executive function, social support, and related primary care services

Mid-State Federal Health Center

•Systematizing medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorder

•Quality improvement for medication-assisted treatment program for opioid use disorder

Fitchburg Family Practice

•Increase parent-provider behavioral health engagement and referrals through well child checks

Concord Hospital

•LGBTQ+ competence improvement among providers and staff

•Frail elder program quality improvement through structured intake processes

Barre Family Health Center

•Medication-assisted treatment program quality improvement

•Creating a digital shared resource for specialty mental health referrals

Maine-Dartmouth Family Practice

•Increase documentation and follow-up for depression screening in primary care

Berlin Family Medical Center

•Increase provide understanding of the experience of diabetic patients to inform future interventions