Healthy People 2000 and population health improvement in the Department of Defense Military Health System.

The historical review of the literature presented in this article traces the current emphasis on population health improvement in the Department of Defense (DoD) Military Health System (MHS) to the emphasis placed on health promotion, disease prevention, and population health in the landmark document, Healthy People 2000. This review of the literature is presented to provide DoD MHS health care professionals with an overview of the impact of Healthy People 2000 on health promotion and disease prevention policy and on generating population health improvement initiatives within the DoD MHS. DoD MHS health care professionals who understand the evolution of population health-oriented initiatives will be better equipped to facilitate the organizational transformation necessary to embed population health improvement in the culture of the DoD MHS.