Health Policy Update: April 17, 2025
In an effort to help our Funding Partners better understand the changing health policy landscape in the new administration and Congress, Grantmakers In Health (GIH) is expanding the GIH Health Policy Update newsletter to three issues per month. Working in collaboration with Leavitt Partners, a leading health care policy consultancy, we are adding new installments of the newsletter on the first and third Wednesdays of the month, while we will continue to partner with Trust for America’s Health on the installment released on the second Wednesday of the month.
Strengthening Government Public Health Agencies
Health funders at the national, state, and local levels have made substantial commitments to improve the functionality of the public health system. Using a variety of approaches, they seek to develop the capabilities, services, and competencies that enhance public health practice.
Bridging, Building, and Beyond: Acceptance Speech of the 2008 Terrance Keenan Leadership Award
The following remarks are excerpted from Terri Langston’s acceptance speech for the Terrance Keenan Leadership Award delivered on February 28, 2008, at the GIH Annual Meeting on Health Philanthropy.
Critical Services for Our Children: Integrating Mental and Oral Health into Primary Care
Grantmakers have long been interested in improving children’s access to health care. Yet, a number of services critical to children’s healthy growth and development—such as mental health and oral health services—fall outside the traditional primary care model. This fragmentation of services has contributed to access barriers and has compromised the quality of pediatric care. Growing awareness of the importance of mental health and oral health has resulted in a variety of innovative efforts to integrate these services into children’s health care.
Serving Our Veterans: Filling the Gaps in Military Mental Health
Stories of devastation on the evening news depict families struggling to cope with the health and mental health problems of their loved ones who have served in the military. For too many, help is not coming quickly enough.
Connecting to Community and Building Accountability
Foundations formed from health care conversions are very much engaged with their communities and seek their involvement in program planning and priority setting, according to a new report from Grantmakers In Health (GIH). The findings in Connecting to Community and Building Accountability reveal that the majority of health foundations promote some kind of community input in their work, although most are not required to do so.
Promoting Children’s Mental Health
The problem has been well documented: approximately one in five children and adolescents experiences a mental health disorder in any given year, and 1 in 10 of all youth experiences a mental illness that severely disrupts his or her daily functioning. Yet more than two-thirds who need mental health services do not receive them. While untreated mental illness can set an individual on a devastating path, early intervention or prevention can correct the course.
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