As the professional association for health foundations and corporate-giving programs, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) connects the hundreds of health funders who are spread across the American landscape, keeping them up-to-date on rapidly changing developments and providing opportunities for them to share what they’re learning and doing in their respective communities.
Times like now—when dramatic changes to the health care landscape are anticipated—accentuate the importance of this role. In 2017 it will be especially important that we help funders understand, and respond to, significant expected changes in public policies and programs that affect the communities they serve.
We will not simply be in crisis mode, however. Our concern for both informing and shaping the bigger picture of philanthropy’s health and health care priorities is ongoing.
As the year begins, the future of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is naturally a high priority for us. Health funders are rightly anxious to understand the changes that are likely with a new Congress and presidential administration. Many grantmakers have invested for years at a national or state level to support the implementation of the ACA. They are keenly aware that rolling back the law will have consequences not only for people’s access to health care services, but also, more broadly, for jobs and state economies.
In an immediate response to these concerns, GIH has organized a series of webinars for its membership that offers the perspectives of a range of policy experts. Immediately post-election, these topics included strategies for adapting health reform–related grant making, the future of Medicaid, and the election’s implications for the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and other children’s coverage. Upcoming webinars will include bipartisan views of the new Trump administration’s health priorities and plans, the implications of a possible repeal of the ACA without implementing an immediate “replace” strategy, and the 2016 election’s possible effects on the health of immigrant communities.
Other ACA-related programming will include activities taking place at our annual conference in June, as well as meetings, calls with funders, and publications, including in-depth interviews about foundation strategies. Because changes to the ACA, Medicaid, and other programs will heighten the importance of state-level actions, our 2017 programming will pay special attention to elevating what funders are doing in states and sharing this information nationally.
In addition to this focus on policy changes that will affect access and coverage, we also want to identify health investment areas in which the new administration seems to be interested. We anticipate that addiction, delivery system reform, veterans’ health, and rural health will be on that list.
Addiction and substance use are elements of our behavioral health programming, which includes the integration of mental health and substance use, the integration of behavioral health into primary health care services, and investments to increase the quality of behavioral health. We will pursue opportunities to communicate with the White House and federal policy makers on these and other priorities that may emerge for them, with an eye to using what we learn to inform our members and facilitate their engagement with policy makers on topics of shared interest.
Among health funders, there is a strong commitment to health equity, and GIH will continue to be a leading voice on this issue. Growing interest in equity within philanthropy as a whole presents us with valuable opportunities to partner with several of our fellow philanthropy-serving organizations. For example, in a recent meeting that the Funders’ Network for Smart Growth and Livable Communities organized, GIH, the Consultative Group on Biological Diversity, EDGE Funders Alliance, Environmental Grantmakers Association, Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees (GCIR), Health and Environmental Funders Network (HEFN), and Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems Funders discussed ways to collaboratively advance diversity, equity, and inclusion. Through working together, our goal is to support important shared values, promote knowledge sharing, and build networks among funders.
With First Lady Michelle Obama’s imminent departure from the White House, the healthy eating/active living (HEAL) field will lose a persuasive champion and spokesperson. To tackle this challenge, GIH’s new HEAL learning community will help funders figure out what comes next for an issue that remains vitally important.
The coming year will also launch first-time GIH programming on water and health; the health of people in, and coming out of, the criminal justice system; and gun violence prevention in communities, especially among youth. Partnerships with philanthropy-serving organizations that are also active on these topics will enhance this work.
Undergirding all of this activity is the understanding that in 2017—which marks our 35th anniversary—it is more important than ever for GIH to stimulate careful thinking, to foster the constructive discussion of differing perspectives, and to maintain a focus on the evolution of new ideas for philanthropy and the nation’s health.
The author is on the editorial board of Health Affairs.
from Health Affairs BlogHealth Affairs Blog http://ift.tt/2iXFMb2
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