Information on the economic effect of poor population health is needed to engage the business community in population health improvement.

In a competitive global market, the United States has high health care costs and poor outcomes (measured by such factors as healthy and productive lives) compared with other countries. U.S. business needs to understand population health and not focus just on the health of employees at the work site. The authors of this article describe a long-term approach to population health, including incentives and identify what is needed to engage business leadership in population health improvement.

This article is part of a special supplement of Preventing Chronic Disease: Public Health Research, Practice, and Policy.