Age is less important than proximity to death as a predictor of costs. However, the pattern of social and nursing care costs is different from that for acute medical care. In planning services it is important to take into account the relatively larger impact of aging on social and nursing care...

Despite its undeniable currency in research and policy circles, there remains considerable confusion about what "population health" is. We propose a lexicon for population health in the hope of clarifying issues and advancing this important research emphasis and policy agenda.