At the Intersection of Health, Health Care and Policy Cite this article as: Foundations Aiming To Improve Children's Health Health Affairs, 34, no.5 (2015):875-876 doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0313
The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is available at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/5/875.full.html
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Health Affairs is published monthly by Project HOPE at 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133. Copyright © 2015 by Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation. As provided by United States copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), no part of Health Affairs may be reproduced, displayed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by information storage or retrieval systems, without prior written permission from the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on August 11, 2015 at UNIV OF PITTSBURGH HSLS
doi:
10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0313
Children In School
GrantWatch Foundations Aiming To Improve Children’s Health In early 2015 the Center for Children and Families, which is based at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, suggested on its website that policy makers and others focus on “the future of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and whether funding will be extended beyond September 2015.” In late March 2015 the US House of Representatives did just that, passing legislation to extend funding for CHIP by two years. The Senate followed suit, sending the bill to President Barack Obama in April. The center’s mission is “to expand and improve health coverage for America’s children and families.” Its main funders are the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Atlantic Philanthropies. Meanwhile, the recent measles outbreak linked to Disneyland in California has focused attention on kids’ vaccination. A March 16, 2015, Research Letter in JAMA Pediatrics states: “Rapid growth of cases across the United States indicates that a substantial percentage of the exposed population may be susceptible to infection due to lack of, or incomplete, vaccination.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) website explains that immunized children can help protect the wider community’s health, especially that of people who cannot be immunized or do not respond to a vaccine. And it notes that “myths and misinformation” about the safety of vaccines can confuse parents who are trying to decide about their children’s health care. Foundations have funded varied projects to improve children’s health. Following are just a few examples.
in Empire Health’s funding area had converted their kitchens to allow for healthier cooking from scratch instead of using processed and frozen meals. The foundation funds in seven counties in Eastern Washington. The New York State Health Foundation funded a report titled School-Based Health Centers in New York State: Ensuring Sustainability and Establishing Opportunities for Growth. Such centers provide access to cost-effective primary care and mental health, dental, and reproductive health services for low-income students. Published by the Children’s Defense Fund–New York, this January 2014 report looked at ways to sustain the centers while also meeting the goals of the state’s Medicaid redesign initiative.
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation, located in Baton Rouge, launched its Smart Bodies program in 2005 to combat childhood obesity, “a serious issue” in the state, says the foundation’s website. This schoolbased program teaches children in grades K–5 about nutrition and fitness. In partnership with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, the statewide Smart Bodies program “integrates classroom activities with handson learning” in more than 330 schools. According to the foundation, a two-year study of eighteen elementary schools shows that Smart Bodies is effective. California’s schools are lagging when it comes to providing healthy alternatives to sugary drinks, partly because students at 25 percent of schools do not have access to free and fresh drink- The State Health Access Data Assistance ing water during school mealtimes, said Center (SHADAC), located at the UniSarah Buck of the Rural Community As- versity of Minnesota and funded by the sistance Corporation (RCAC), citing re- RWJF, published For Kids’ Sake: Statesearch published in the American Journal Level Trends in Children’s Health Insurof Public Health. The California Endow- ance. The April 2014 report, which uses ment launched the Agua4All pilot proj- data from 2008 to 2012, notes that ect in 2014 with the goal of bringing safe the biggest coverage gains have been water to disadvantaged communities achieved by low-income children and around the state by installing water bot- nonwhite and Hispanic children, who tle filling stations in communities and have long had the highest uninsurschools. Also funded by the Weingart ance rates. In June 2014 Mathematica Policy ReFoundation and others, Agua4All, which is partnering with the RCAC, search published “KidsWell: Securing two local nonprofits, the Jamie Oliver Coverage for Children by Advocating Food Foundation USA, and First Lady for the ACA,” an issue brief about the Michelle Obama’s Drink Up campaign, approximately $41.5 million KidsWell will first install 145 water taps in two advocacy campaign, funded by Atlantic The premise of rural California regions. Agua4All is Philanthropies. part of the endowment’s Health Hap- KidsWell, launched in 2011 and now pens Here campaign. Its premise is that winding down, is that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most vi“health happens in neighable near-term policy option borhoods, schools, and with Grant to get health coverage for all prevention,” not just in docWatch children. Atlantic chose to fotors’ offices. Blog cus on seven states that “span Among the strategic pria continuum in their embrace orities of Empire Health New GrantWatch of the ACA,” the brief says. The Foundation, in Spokane, content appears online at http:// brief looks at how children’s Washington, is to “reduce www.health advocates in two of the states, obesity, starting with affairs.org/blog/ New Mexico and New York, school-aged children.” In grantwatch. Sign up “have tried to shape state deDecember 2014 the funder’s for an RSS feed or a monthly e-mail cisions on ACA implementapresident, Antony Chiang, digest of GrantWatch tion policies.” For example, reported on one of the outnews from the blog. in New Mexico, advocates comes: Ten school districts
Health Insurance
M ay 2 0 1 5
3 4: 5
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GrantWatch helped build a case for Medicaid expansion and decided that its economic benefits “would make the strongest argument.” In early 2013 the governor of the state announced that it would expand Medicaid. Researchers at the George Washington University (GWU) Milken Institute School of Public Health published a February 2015 issue brief titled “Community Health Centers and Their Role for Patients Enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).” Funded by the RCHN Community Health Foundation, an operating foundation set up to support community health centers, the brief notes that centers served 350,973 CHIP enrollees (or 4.2 percent of them) nationally in 2013. In certain states, however, the proportions were higher. One reason is that health centers and CHIP enrollees are closely linked “in states with extremely medically underserved areas such as Alaska, South Dakota, and West Virginia,” said Sara Rosenbaum, founding chair of the Department of Health Policy at GWU.
Health Promotion Through its Healthy Kids focus area, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded a $225,000 grant to the National Health Policy Forum, based at GWU. The aim of the grant, which began in 2012, is to improve children’s health and wellbeing by informing federal health policy makers about the social determinants of health and by providing the knowledge they need to develop more equitable and effective policies, Sally Coberly, the forum’s deputy director, explained. The Annie E. Casey Foundation published its 2014 Kids Count Data Book in July 2014. The report assesses child wellbeing nationally and across the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, on four domains, including health. Readers can tailor their searches by location and topic. Health topics include health insurance, dental health, and mental health. The report also contains information on demographics and “safety and risky behaviors.” Because this is the twenty-fifth edition of the report, it looks at trends in child wellbeing since 1990. 876
H e a lt h A f fai r s
May 2 015
Mental Health The Casey Foundation also funded the Center for Health Care Strategies for three years (2012–15) to work with six states in a collaborative to improve appropriate prescribing of psychotropic medications to children and youth in foster care, who often are enrolled in Medicaid. Usage rates of psychotropics among those in the child welfare system are especially high, and federal legislation now requires protocols for appropriate use and for monitoring of those drugs, the center says. Participating states’ activities have included “advancing data-sharing; coordinating oversight and quality assurance processes; and strengthening care coordination,” according to an e-alert. Kentucky Educational Television (KET), a public broadcasting station, produced the documentary “Safe and Sound: Raising Emotionally Healthy Children in a Stressful World,” which aired in 2014. The program, partially funded by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, looked at the effect of childhood adversity, such as trauma or constant stress, on individuals’ development and on society, according to KET’s website. “Real-life parenting challenges of Kentucky families with young children,” as well as examples of how communities and agencies in the state are helping parents—including home visitation offered by the public health department—were shown.
Oral Health In January 2015 the Caring for Colorado Foundation’s board approved a five-year, $3.5 million Virtual Dental Home Initiative, which aims to help lowincome, vulnerable, and isolated children and seniors throughout the state gain access to services. Registered dental hygienists will go into community settings, such as schools, Head Start centers, and nursing homes, to provide preventive care and will be linked to a “hub” dentist, through telehealth technology, for assessment and treatment planning, according to a press release. 34:5
Among the Cigna Foundation’s priority giving areas is children’s wellness. It awarded a $103,000 grant to Healthy Smiles Mobile Dental Foundation to provide ongoing oral health services to underserved kids in four California counties. The grantee will use a “van equipped as a state-of-the-art dental office,” said a March 2015 press release. University of Southern California research has found that elementary school–age “socioeconomically disadvantaged” students missed more than two days of school during the year, on average, because of dental problems, the release said. In February 2015 the United Hospital Fund awarded a $95,000 grant to the Children’s Dental Health Project. The grantee aims to improve the oral health care of poor toddlers and preschoolers in New York City by developing a smartphone app to help parents avoid risks of tooth decay in their kids. The project will also identify potential waivers or state plan amendments to allow Medicaid to reimburse for counseling on, and management of, early childhood decay.
Key Personnel Changes Audrey Harvey is now executive director and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Foundation, the largest health foundation in the state. In August 2014 Harvey succeeded Ira Strumwasser, who had held the position for thirty years and retired. Harvey was vice president and controller of the BCBSM insurance company.
Andy Hyman, a senior program officer at the RWJF, died in February 2015, Grantmakers In Health reported at its annual meeting. He had been with the RWJF since 2006. “Andy was tenacious in his pursuit of a singular vision: that everyone in America would have the coverage necessary to access high quality health care—physical, behavioral, or both,” said RWJF president and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey in a February 27, 2015, blog post. ▪ Compiled and written by Lee L. Prina, senior editor
Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on August 11, 2015 at UNIV OF PITTSBURGH HSLS
The online version of this article, along with updated information and services, is available at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/34/5/875.full.html
For Reprints, Links & Permissions: http://healthaffairs.org/1340_reprints.php E-mail Alerts : http://content.healthaffairs.org/subscriptions/etoc.dtl To Subscribe: http://content.healthaffairs.org/subscriptions/online.shtml
Health Affairs is published monthly by Project HOPE at 7500 Old Georgetown Road, Suite 600, Bethesda, MD 20814-6133. Copyright © 2015 by Project HOPE - The People-to-People Health Foundation. As provided by United States copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code), no part of Health Affairs may be reproduced, displayed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or by information storage or retrieval systems, without prior written permission from the Publisher. All rights reserved.
Not for commercial use or unauthorized distribution Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on August 11, 2015 at UNIV OF PITTSBURGH HSLS
doi:
10.1377/hlthaff.2015.0313
Children In School
GrantWatch Foundations Aiming To Improve Children’s Health In early 2015 the Center for Children and Families, which is based at Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute, suggested on its website that policy makers and others focus on “the future of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and whether funding will be extended beyond September 2015.” In late March 2015 the US House of Representatives did just that, passing legislation to extend funding for CHIP by two years. The Senate followed suit, sending the bill to President Barack Obama in April. The center’s mission is “to expand and improve health coverage for America’s children and families.” Its main funders are the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, and Atlantic Philanthropies. Meanwhile, the recent measles outbreak linked to Disneyland in California has focused attention on kids’ vaccination. A March 16, 2015, Research Letter in JAMA Pediatrics states: “Rapid growth of cases across the United States indicates that a substantial percentage of the exposed population may be susceptible to infection due to lack of, or incomplete, vaccination.” The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) website explains that immunized children can help protect the wider community’s health, especially that of people who cannot be immunized or do not respond to a vaccine. And it notes that “myths and misinformation” about the safety of vaccines can confuse parents who are trying to decide about their children’s health care. Foundations have funded varied projects to improve children’s health. Following are just a few examples.
in Empire Health’s funding area had converted their kitchens to allow for healthier cooking from scratch instead of using processed and frozen meals. The foundation funds in seven counties in Eastern Washington. The New York State Health Foundation funded a report titled School-Based Health Centers in New York State: Ensuring Sustainability and Establishing Opportunities for Growth. Such centers provide access to cost-effective primary care and mental health, dental, and reproductive health services for low-income students. Published by the Children’s Defense Fund–New York, this January 2014 report looked at ways to sustain the centers while also meeting the goals of the state’s Medicaid redesign initiative.
The Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana Foundation, located in Baton Rouge, launched its Smart Bodies program in 2005 to combat childhood obesity, “a serious issue” in the state, says the foundation’s website. This schoolbased program teaches children in grades K–5 about nutrition and fitness. In partnership with the Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, the statewide Smart Bodies program “integrates classroom activities with handson learning” in more than 330 schools. According to the foundation, a two-year study of eighteen elementary schools shows that Smart Bodies is effective. California’s schools are lagging when it comes to providing healthy alternatives to sugary drinks, partly because students at 25 percent of schools do not have access to free and fresh drink- The State Health Access Data Assistance ing water during school mealtimes, said Center (SHADAC), located at the UniSarah Buck of the Rural Community As- versity of Minnesota and funded by the sistance Corporation (RCAC), citing re- RWJF, published For Kids’ Sake: Statesearch published in the American Journal Level Trends in Children’s Health Insurof Public Health. The California Endow- ance. The April 2014 report, which uses ment launched the Agua4All pilot proj- data from 2008 to 2012, notes that ect in 2014 with the goal of bringing safe the biggest coverage gains have been water to disadvantaged communities achieved by low-income children and around the state by installing water bot- nonwhite and Hispanic children, who tle filling stations in communities and have long had the highest uninsurschools. Also funded by the Weingart ance rates. In June 2014 Mathematica Policy ReFoundation and others, Agua4All, which is partnering with the RCAC, search published “KidsWell: Securing two local nonprofits, the Jamie Oliver Coverage for Children by Advocating Food Foundation USA, and First Lady for the ACA,” an issue brief about the Michelle Obama’s Drink Up campaign, approximately $41.5 million KidsWell will first install 145 water taps in two advocacy campaign, funded by Atlantic The premise of rural California regions. Agua4All is Philanthropies. part of the endowment’s Health Hap- KidsWell, launched in 2011 and now pens Here campaign. Its premise is that winding down, is that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) is the most vi“health happens in neighable near-term policy option borhoods, schools, and with Grant to get health coverage for all prevention,” not just in docWatch children. Atlantic chose to fotors’ offices. Blog cus on seven states that “span Among the strategic pria continuum in their embrace orities of Empire Health New GrantWatch of the ACA,” the brief says. The Foundation, in Spokane, content appears online at http:// brief looks at how children’s Washington, is to “reduce www.health advocates in two of the states, obesity, starting with affairs.org/blog/ New Mexico and New York, school-aged children.” In grantwatch. Sign up “have tried to shape state deDecember 2014 the funder’s for an RSS feed or a monthly e-mail cisions on ACA implementapresident, Antony Chiang, digest of GrantWatch tion policies.” For example, reported on one of the outnews from the blog. in New Mexico, advocates comes: Ten school districts
Health Insurance
M ay 2 0 1 5
3 4: 5
Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on August 11, 2015 at UNIV OF PITTSBURGH HSLS
H e a lt h A f fai r s
875
GrantWatch helped build a case for Medicaid expansion and decided that its economic benefits “would make the strongest argument.” In early 2013 the governor of the state announced that it would expand Medicaid. Researchers at the George Washington University (GWU) Milken Institute School of Public Health published a February 2015 issue brief titled “Community Health Centers and Their Role for Patients Enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).” Funded by the RCHN Community Health Foundation, an operating foundation set up to support community health centers, the brief notes that centers served 350,973 CHIP enrollees (or 4.2 percent of them) nationally in 2013. In certain states, however, the proportions were higher. One reason is that health centers and CHIP enrollees are closely linked “in states with extremely medically underserved areas such as Alaska, South Dakota, and West Virginia,” said Sara Rosenbaum, founding chair of the Department of Health Policy at GWU.
Health Promotion Through its Healthy Kids focus area, the W.K. Kellogg Foundation awarded a $225,000 grant to the National Health Policy Forum, based at GWU. The aim of the grant, which began in 2012, is to improve children’s health and wellbeing by informing federal health policy makers about the social determinants of health and by providing the knowledge they need to develop more equitable and effective policies, Sally Coberly, the forum’s deputy director, explained. The Annie E. Casey Foundation published its 2014 Kids Count Data Book in July 2014. The report assesses child wellbeing nationally and across the fifty states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, on four domains, including health. Readers can tailor their searches by location and topic. Health topics include health insurance, dental health, and mental health. The report also contains information on demographics and “safety and risky behaviors.” Because this is the twenty-fifth edition of the report, it looks at trends in child wellbeing since 1990. 876
H e a lt h A f fai r s
May 2 015
Mental Health The Casey Foundation also funded the Center for Health Care Strategies for three years (2012–15) to work with six states in a collaborative to improve appropriate prescribing of psychotropic medications to children and youth in foster care, who often are enrolled in Medicaid. Usage rates of psychotropics among those in the child welfare system are especially high, and federal legislation now requires protocols for appropriate use and for monitoring of those drugs, the center says. Participating states’ activities have included “advancing data-sharing; coordinating oversight and quality assurance processes; and strengthening care coordination,” according to an e-alert. Kentucky Educational Television (KET), a public broadcasting station, produced the documentary “Safe and Sound: Raising Emotionally Healthy Children in a Stressful World,” which aired in 2014. The program, partially funded by the Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, looked at the effect of childhood adversity, such as trauma or constant stress, on individuals’ development and on society, according to KET’s website. “Real-life parenting challenges of Kentucky families with young children,” as well as examples of how communities and agencies in the state are helping parents—including home visitation offered by the public health department—were shown.
Oral Health In January 2015 the Caring for Colorado Foundation’s board approved a five-year, $3.5 million Virtual Dental Home Initiative, which aims to help lowincome, vulnerable, and isolated children and seniors throughout the state gain access to services. Registered dental hygienists will go into community settings, such as schools, Head Start centers, and nursing homes, to provide preventive care and will be linked to a “hub” dentist, through telehealth technology, for assessment and treatment planning, according to a press release. 34:5
Among the Cigna Foundation’s priority giving areas is children’s wellness. It awarded a $103,000 grant to Healthy Smiles Mobile Dental Foundation to provide ongoing oral health services to underserved kids in four California counties. The grantee will use a “van equipped as a state-of-the-art dental office,” said a March 2015 press release. University of Southern California research has found that elementary school–age “socioeconomically disadvantaged” students missed more than two days of school during the year, on average, because of dental problems, the release said. In February 2015 the United Hospital Fund awarded a $95,000 grant to the Children’s Dental Health Project. The grantee aims to improve the oral health care of poor toddlers and preschoolers in New York City by developing a smartphone app to help parents avoid risks of tooth decay in their kids. The project will also identify potential waivers or state plan amendments to allow Medicaid to reimburse for counseling on, and management of, early childhood decay.
Key Personnel Changes Audrey Harvey is now executive director and CEO of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) Foundation, the largest health foundation in the state. In August 2014 Harvey succeeded Ira Strumwasser, who had held the position for thirty years and retired. Harvey was vice president and controller of the BCBSM insurance company.
Andy Hyman, a senior program officer at the RWJF, died in February 2015, Grantmakers In Health reported at its annual meeting. He had been with the RWJF since 2006. “Andy was tenacious in his pursuit of a singular vision: that everyone in America would have the coverage necessary to access high quality health care—physical, behavioral, or both,” said RWJF president and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey in a February 27, 2015, blog post. ▪ Compiled and written by Lee L. Prina, senior editor
Downloaded from content.healthaffairs.org by Health Affairs on August 11, 2015 at UNIV OF PITTSBURGH HSLS
