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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between ownership type and population health initiatives adopted by hospitals using the 2015 American Hospital Association data.

Hospitals of various sizes, ownership structures and geographic locations are represented in the survey. The outcome variables of interest include measures of hospital population health activities.

Findings indicate that nonprofit hospitals are most likely to express commitment to population health and participate in population health activities, with for-profit hospitals being least likely. Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

This study demonstrates that discrepancies in population health approaches exist across ownership status – particularly, nonprofit hospitals appear to be the most likely to be involved in population health efforts.

As we continue to push for population health management in the hospital setting, grappling with the definition and purpose of population health management will be essential.

Overall, these results suggest that nonprofit hospitals are more likely to be implementing population health efforts than for-profit or government-owned hospitals.

Although there are several studies on population health in hospitals, this study is the first to investigate the relationship between ownership type and population health initiatives adopted by hospitals.