Health Affairs

This week, the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released a national plan to prevent and effectively treat Alzheimer’s disease by 2025. The National Alzheimer’s Project Act, legislation that was passed unanimously by both houses of Congress (yes, you read that correctly!) in 2010 required HHS to come up with a plan, said... Read the rest of this entry »

California is considering whether to establish a Basic Health Program, an option under the Affordable Care Act of 2010 that would cover those who are earning less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and who are ineligible for Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). To finance the Basic Health Program, the... Read the rest of this entry »

I was on vacation this past week. When I returned, I saw an e-alert from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Center for Health Policy Research with just “E. Richard Brown” in the subject line. The e-alert delivered the sad news that a few days earlier in April, Brown, known to all as “Rick,”... Read the rest of this entry »

As most people have heard, the U.S. Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments this week (March 26-28) on the constitutionality of various aspects of the Affordable Care Act of 2010. People have scrambled for seats at the court, and, according to what I heard in a news report, some have paid others to stand in... Read the rest of this entry »

GrantWatch Blog invited E. Richard Brown, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, School of Public Health, to report some highlights from a February symposium on health reform. “Health care reform is not self-implementing,” said Peter Long, president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Blue Shield of California Foundation, as he led... Read the rest of this entry »

Read below about some comings and goings at foundations around the country. Abraham Daniels has joined the Sierra Health Foundation. He is in charge of the foundation’s new health initiative that aims to strengthen the main health care safety net in the Sacramento, California, region, according to Sierra’s newsletter. Most recently, Daniels was director of... Read the rest of this entry »

In reverse order, number three in the rankings was on Medicaid, and number two was on health reform (certainly not surprising). Number one (the most-read post during the month) was a round-up of posts from other foundation-related blogs. In case you missed the Health Affairs GrantWatch Tweet and/or e-alert when they were sent out, the... Read the rest of this entry »

The Colorado Health Foundation sponsored a debate this past week as part of its annual symposium. The conference sold out, as it has many other years. GrantWatch Blog asked Grace-Marie Turner of the Galen Institute, a participant in the debate and a former journalist, to write a post containing her observations. Resolved: The Affordable Care... Read the rest of this entry »

Medicaid has been in the news over the past few weeks, as President Obama and members of Congress debate whether to make cuts to the federal-state program for the poor and disabled (and to other large entitlement programs) that could help reduce the federal deficit. GrantWatch Blog has gathered just a sampling of what foundations... Read the rest of this entry »

GrantWatch Blog has been on its Fourth of July break. Below, in this post-holiday edition I’ve gathered links to several blog posts that you may want to add to your reading list. Global Health Malaria: “Saving Lives: When the Impossible Becomes Possible,” Alexandra Farnum on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s Foundation Blog, June 24. In this... Read the rest of this entry »

Catherine Hess of the National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP) reports on how foundations are supporting efforts to foster dialogue between states and stakeholders during implementation of health reform. Facts, not ideology, should ground discussions was among the lessons learned at a meeting of state officials and advocates in southern states. Even in political... Read the rest of this entry »

I have rounded up a list of recent posts from health philanthropy blogs and philanthropy-in-general blogs that caught my eye. For more blog reading, see GrantWatch Blog’s Blogroll (look to the right!). Environmental Health “Good Health Should Begin at Home, so Why Is Housing Making Kids Sick?” (Apr. 10). Ben Starrett tells us that “generations of chronic disinvestment in... Read the rest of this entry »

Medicare and other entitlement programs are back in the news in the coverage of President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget, which was released this week. In this post, I mention a selected sampling of recent foundation-funded efforts on Medicare. Recent Publications: DataBrief: The SCAN Foundation and Avalere Health say that low-income Americans who qualify for... Read the rest of this entry »

René Cabral-Daniels is the former director of the Public-Philanthropic Partnership Initiative at the Council on Foundations. She recently became chief of staff at the National Patient Advocate Foundation. If you define philanthropy as Council on Foundations President and CEO Steve Gunderson does—as “a strategic investment in social change,” it is clear that initiating and sustaining... Read the rest of this entry »

I have pulled together a list of links to philanthropy-related blog posts that have come across my desk in recent weeks. I hope that you will see a few that pique your interest. During this short week between the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, I am keeping my “roundup” post—covering several important topics—short! Happy New... Read the rest of this entry »

In last week’s post, I marked the six-month anniversary of the enactment of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I continue here our selected sampling of what philanthropy is doing to help with health reform. Also included today are some related resources on health reform, including a tongue-in-cheek glossary of health care terms (which... Read the rest of this entry »

As the media have been reporting on New Orleans at the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, it is also an opportune time for the GrantWatch Blog to report on how foundations have been helping in the Crescent City and surrounding area. Foundations have awarded grants to inform the general public about the status of New Orleans,... Read the rest of this entry »

Below, we have tabulated for you a list of which three GrantWatch Blog posts were most read in July 2010. GrantWatch Blog, a fairly recent product of Health Affairs, launched in March 2010.  At the top of the list was a “roundup” post on foundation-funded efforts in two areas: cardiovascular health and Medicaid. The work of the AstraZeneca Health Care... Read the rest of this entry »

Today I am focusing on what foundations are funding in the areas of cardiovascular health and Medicaid. Some of the funders mentioned in this selective sample of foundation efforts may be new to you. Medicaid is back in the news. According to the media and the National Conference of State Legislatures, it is not at... Read the rest of this entry »