Health Affairs

The May GrantWatch column in Health Affairs focuses on efforts of foundations around the United States to address the problems of ‘food deserts’—low-income communities where there are limited locations for residents to buy reasonably priced fresh fruits and vegetables. The topic of food deserts can be controversial in some quarters: Did you see the recent article in the New York Times on this topic? And how about this article in the Chicago Tribune, which quotes a food policy researcher’s blog criticizing the Times article?

In the April issue, my GrantWatch column focused on oral health: how foundations are supporting efforts to expand access to dental care and to prevent dental disease. 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 federal government would pay funds to the state that the feds would otherwise put toward coverage under the California Health Benefit Exchange. Legislation to establish a Basic Health Program in the state (Senate Bill 703, introduced by Sen. Ed Hernandez [D-West Covina, District 24]) is pending. What the Basic Health Program would mean for California’s residents and health care stakeholders was the subject of a California HealthCare Foundation briefing, held in Sacramento on April 27.

The implications of a Basic Health Program are anything but straightforward. The interdependency of the new Basic Health Program and the Exchange—combined with other program changes to roll out in 2014 under the Affordable Care Act—makes analyzing the Basic Health Program option exceedingly challenging. To help bring clarity, in 2011 the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) commissioned Mercer to study the financial feasibility of the Basic Health Program option for California; then, in a separate line of inquiry, we funded the Institute for Health Policy Solutions to explore the effect of income volatility on Basic Health Program eligibility. (The researchers were John Graves, Rick Curtis, and Jon Gruber.) Each analysis offered important perspectives on a subset of Basic Health Program considerations.

Because California policy staff and stakeholders continued to raise questions about the Basic Health Program’s impact, the CHCF commissioned the consulting firm HTMS to develop a broad framework for analyzing the implications of the Basic Health Program. Its research, based on stakeholder interviews and a review of previous analysis, was presented and discussed at the April 27 briefing. Read the rest of this entry »

GrantWatch Blog asked the author, a staffer at the Jewish Healthcare Foundation, in Pittsburgh, to report on a conference that the funder and the Coalition for Quality at End of Life convened this spring.

Readmissions Reduction. Health Information Technology. Patient-Centered Medical Home. Cost Effectiveness. Best Practice. Provider Education. Workforce Training. Care Transitions. Public-Private Partnerships. Policy and Advocacy. Consumer and Family Engagement.

Does this sound like the 2012 List of Top Health Care Buzzwords?

You wouldn’t expect that they would all be raised or could all be addressed in a single meeting. But all of those issues (and more) were part of the recent statewide meeting of Closure: Changing Expectations for Care at End of Life, a Jewish Healthcare Foundation initiative. The foundation and the Western Pennsylvania-based Coalition for Quality at End of Life convened the meeting, which was held in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Over the course of a day and a half, nearly 100 physicians, nurses, clergy, policy makers, advocates, social service professionals, and consumers came together to engage on, define, discuss, and debate issues around care at end of life. Many of those who came together didn’t know each other on Day One, but left on Day Two having reached consensus on issues and having expressed a shared desire to work together to advance a vision and implement practical solutions. Read the rest of this entry »