How U.S. children's hospitals define population health: a qualitative, interview-based study.

Definitional debates are ongoing even within children's hospitals that are dedicating significant resources to population health. Increased clarity on the conceptual boundaries between population health and population health management could help preserve the theoretical differences between the two concepts, especially insofar as they mark two quite different long-term visions for health care. Without agreement about the meaning of population health within and among institutions, hospitals will not be able to know whether projects aimed at addressing the social determinants of health are likely to improve the health of populations.