1. Population Health Management
Topic areas
A. Understanding and applying the principles of patient and  community engagement when seeking to achieve population health improvement 
Examples
  • Community-oriented primary care, community involvement
  • Engagement of patients in the critical review of health-related news and information 
B. Influence of social determinants of health on clinical interventions
  • Income, occupation, personal and cultural beliefs,   transportation, neighborhood and built environment 
  • Quality of education and job training, language/literacy
  • Social norms and attitudes (e.g., discrimination, racism, and distrust of government) 
  • Access to mass media and emerging technologies
C. Population health assessment and improvement within a coordinated healthcare delivery system
  • Patient safety assessments 
  • Coordinated care for groups of patients with chronic diseases
  • Applying an equity lens to various patient populations within health system
D. Coordination of health services 
  • Linking to community resources 
  • Aligning resources with patient and population needs
  • Patient‐centered medical homes
  • Communication and sharing knowledge
E. Principles of team-based healthcare, health promotion and disease prevention
  • Roles and responsibilities of the team and its members 
  • Contributions of community and lay workers (patient navigators, community health workers)
  • Interprofessional team competencies
F. Systems thinking in population health 
  • Understand and model the relationship among elements that influence health outcomes 
  • Alter design, processes, or policies based on the resultant knowledge in order to produce better health at lower cost
  • Understand how the various parts of an organization interact and how effectively people are working together to achieve desired outcomes  
2. Partnering with the Public to Improve Health
A. Community health assessments 
  • ​Developing and maintaining partnerships among key  stakeholders
  • Methods of assessment and planning models, frameworks and tools 
  • County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System
  • Understanding national and state requirements that drive community health assessments and improvement planning 
B. Principles to successful partnering 
  • Application of the principles of community engagement to prioritize interventions
  • Strategies for building community capacity 
C. Conducting or contributing to community-engaged research
  • Principles of community‐engaged research (CEnR), specifically community‐based participatory research (CBPR) 
  • Differences between CBPR and traditional research 
  • Challenges and benefits of CBPR; understanding when to use a CBPR approach 
D. Communications 
  • Communication channels: mass and social media; risk communication 
  • Use of impact statements to promote evidence‐based practices 
  • Understanding of social marketing best practices 
E. Literacy level and cultural appropriateness
  • National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards
  • Federal health literacy tools and guidelines   
F. Evidence‐based recommendations for community preventive services
  • Community Preventive Services Task Force - The Community Guide
3. Environmental Health
A. Scope of environmental health
  • Interrelationships between people and their environment 
  • Unaltered/natural, altered and built environments 
  • Environmental health in local, state, and federal policies
  • Hazardous substances in the air, water, soil, and food; natural and technological disasters; climate change; occupational hazards 
B. Environmental contamination agents, vectors, and routes of entry  ​
  • Understanding environmental pathways and harmful agents (e.g., tobacco, lead, mercury, asbestos, pesticides, ticks, mosquitoes) 
  • Routes of entry of environmental contamination agents (e.g., air, water, food)  
C. Environmental health risk assessment and risk management
  • Recognition and reduction of environmental hazards, particularly for vulnerable individuals and  populations
4. Occupational Health
A. Employment‐based risks and injuries, including military service
  • Biological, chemical, radiological, and physical agents and hazards 
  • Infectious and chronic diseases and injuries 
  • Psychosocial risk factors 
B. Prevention and control of occupational exposures and injuries
  • Surveillance; engineering controls, safe work practices, administrative controls, personal protective equipment
C. Exposure and prevention in healthcare settings
  • Needlestick injuries, back injuries, latex allergy, violence and stress
5. Global Health
A. Role of key international organizations in global health
  • World Health Organization (Public Health Emergencies of International Concern), USAID, CDC, State Department, global partnerships and private foundations 
  • Implications and limitations of international health regulations
B. Distribution of diseases and population patterns in other countries
  • Burden of disease and related risk factors
  • Population growth, health and development
C. Successful measures to address key burdens of disease 
  • Disease surveillance and response 
  • Immunizations, clean water, mosquito abatement 
D. Global demographic changes
  • Size and age of population, morbidity, mortality, migration, fertility rates
E. Effects of globalization on health
  • Emerging and re-emerging diseases, antimicrobial resistance, climate change, food and water challenges
  • Needs of immigrant and refugee populations
  • Impacts of natural disasters, political and social disruptions
6. Cultural Dimensions of Practice
A. Cultural influences on clinicians’ delivery of health services
  • Cross‐cultural care 
  • Culture of communities, institutions, providers, patients 
  • Implicit and explicit bias in patient care 
  • National Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) Standards 
B. Cultural influences on individuals and communities
  • Attitudes toward health care and health‐related beliefs
  • Language and/or interpreter access; delivering effective care using an interpreter 
C. Design and delivery of culturally appropriate and sensitive health care
  • Understanding how culture affects the clinician‐patient relationship
  • Patient‐centered care 
  • Recognizing bias, prejudice and stereotyping
7. Emergency Preparedness & Response Systems
A. Preparedness and response systems
  • Unified command, incident command 
  • EMS, public health, hospital, clinician, and community engagement 
  • Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) and U.S. Public Health Service
B. Defining roles and preparing the health system workforce
  • State and local health departments and Public Health Laboratories 
  • Community and individual resiliency 
  • Protection of vulnerable populations in emergencies 
  • Timely emergency communications and coordination 
  • CDC Clinician Outreach and Communication Activity (COCA)