What is a Population Group?

The Population Group feature in FoldHealth allows users to organize and parse out patients based on specific criteria, enabling dynamic updates and targeted automations or campaigns. A Population Group is a set of patients or contacts that have a defined set of characteristics. There are numerous use cases for Population Groups, such as:

• Identifying at-risk patients with certain conditions
• Patients who are overdue for appointments
• Patients with concerning home monitoring data trends
• Patients due for screening tests

Once patients are identified, these groups can be used in combination with Fold automations, campaigns, or forms to take bulk actions on targeted groups. Population Groups are also useful for reporting purposes. Note that patients cannot see that they're in a Population Group.

Types of Population Groups

There are two types of Population Groups:

• Static Population Groups: Set manually by adding and removing individual members.
• Dynamic Population Groups: Updated automatically based on set parameters. Patients will fall in and out of Dynamic Population Groups as their information is updated within Fold. Note that these do not update in real-time.

Viewing and Managing Population Groups

1. Navigate to the Patients tab and click on Population Groups.
2. Click on a group name to view a list of members who meet the Population Group criteria.
3. To export a list of members, click on the Download button.
4. To edit a Population Group, click on the pencil icon.
5. Clicking on the lightning bolt button adds your Population Group to the queue to be executed.

Creating a Static Population Group

Example: Creating a static Population Group for patients participating in a smoking cessation wellness program.

1. Click Create Group within the Population Group tab.
2. Add a name and a description.
3. Search for the support group participants.
4. When everyone has been added, click Submit.
5. To add or remove patients, click on the plus person icon to add or the X button to remove a person.

Creating a Dynamic Population Group

Example: Creating a dynamic Population Group for women with high-risk family histories.

1. Add a name and description.
2. Select the Initial Population feature to use a previous Population Group as the initial population.
3. Select the frequency for the Population Group to spool (daily, weekly, or monthly).
4. Use branching logic to add rules, such as Sex at Birth, Age, and Family History.
5. Use subgroups to apply multiple conditions.
6. Use the ANY and ALL buttons to refine your logic. When ANY is selected, a person can meet any one of the attached criteria to be surfaced in the population group. When ALL is selected, a person must meet all of the attached criteria to be surfaced.
7. Review the criteria to ensure the logic reads properly.
8. Click Submit to add your Population Group to the queue to be spooled.

Depending on your use case, Population Groups can be simple or complex, involving many rules or subgroups. Iterating on your Population Group rules is recommended to ensure you have the right combination of criteria and logic to meet your needs.

What parameters can a dynamic population group have?

Dynamic population groups can be made based on any combination of the following parameters:

• Demographics: Gender, Age, Sex at Birth, Zip code, Tags, Membership Status, etc. 
• Clinical Information: Vital Signs, Diagnosis Code, Lab Results, Medications, Wearable Device Data, Immunisation, Procedure, etc.  
• Patient Engagement Information: Appointments, Messages, Tasks, Forms, etc.  

What is an Audience Group and what is a Patient Group?

Audience group and patient group are synonyms for population groups.

What is an Employer Group?

Some direct care clients have contracts with employer groups.  The employer groups are integrated with HINT to provide dynamic updating.  You cannot add or remove members from an employer group through Fold - updates to Employer Groups only occur through Hint. 

What actions can be taken on a Population Group or an Employer Group?

Automations and Campaigns are the two primary actions that can be done on a Population Group.

Common FAQs

How do I create a Population Group?

Patients Tab > Population Groups > + Create Group. 

Will patients see that they are in a Population Group?

Patients won't see that they're in a Population Group group, nor will they see other members in the group.

How long does a dynamic Population Group take to update?

Once you change the parameters of a dynamic population group, the group can take up to 24 hours to update.

What is the difference between the “Equal” and “Contains” filters in dynamic groups?

• Contains: Populate patient if ANY fields match.

• Equals: Populate patient only if ALL fields match.

Similarly,

• Not Contains: Populate patient if ANY fields do not match.

• Not Equals: Populate patient only if ALL fields do not match.

Reference: Confluence Trainn