What is the central aim of any health care system? There are actually three, or there should be. In this On Demand presentation, Delivering Value for Individuals and Populations, Thomas Nolan, PhD, examines this multi-faceted goal that IHI has named the Triple Aim: the simultaneous pursuit of population health, enhanced individual care, and controlled costs for a population. Nolan explores these three aims, and presents case studies showing how pursuit of these goals at the individual level can lead to learning for the population.

Few, if any, health systems have a business model that emphasizes these three aims equally. Yet it is only by addressing all three simultaneously that health care systems can optimize resources for the care of populations and achieve transformational change. Put simply, pursuing the Triple Aim is about delivering the best care, for the whole population, at the lowest cost.

The challenge embedded in the Triple Aim is how to create reliable, reproducible, efficient interventions for populations, while also responding to patients as individuals. Additional challenges involve coordinating and integrating the care and services that individuals, families, and ultimately populations, require. If the health system’s job is to form a system that serves the population, what is the most efficient way to coordinate care, especially with other entities such as insurers, hospitals, schools, and community service organizations? Dr. Nolan believes the answer to this question is critical, because cooperative connections will be a minimum requirement of all practices in the future.