Turning the Tide: Preserving Community Mental Health Services
Across the country, the demand for community mental health services is growing at the same time that community mental health programs are in crisis as a result of inadequate financing and a shortage of appropriately trained providers. Nationwide, the imbalance between the supply of and demand for community mental health services is causing unnecessary personal suffering and imposing avoidable societal costs. This Issue Brief explores how health grantmakers can support community programs that provide critical mental health intervention and treatment services to children and adults.
Building Relationships in Health: How Philanthropy and Government Can Work Together
Philanthropy and government have many mutual interests. While differences in culture, time frame, and expectations can make building relationships difficult, there are many successful partnerships that together are greater than the sum of their parts. This publication presents what GIH has learned from colleagues in both sectors about the range of options for those interested in collaboration and the lessons they have learned in building those relationships.
Positive Youth Development: A Pathway to Healthy Teens
Adolescence is the time when teens are laying the groundwork for their future health and well-being. This Issue Brief explores how grantmakers can apply youth development principles and asset-based strategies to their grantmaking to promote healthy development and healthy decisionmaking by the adolescents in their communities.
Rx for Progress: Putting Patient Safety Into Practice
This Issue Brief, based on a February 2002 GIH roundtable meeting, explores the work of foundations, government, research, and health care organizations to reduce medical errors and improve patient safety. The report draws on both foundation and grantee experiences and highlights specific funding strategies, as well as emerging opportunities for foundations that wish to fund patient safety programs and research.
Examining E-Health
Based on a 2002 GIH roundtable meeting, this Issue Brief is intended to help health funders better understand the fluid and dynamic world of e-health.
The report profiles the work of three foundations active in e-health: California HealthCare Foundation, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Tides Foundation. Their work illustrates the range of foundation activities related to e-health, including: providing leadership both within communities and at the state and national level, including stakeholder convenings, developing a better IT infrastructure within health care; unding research and development of new applications; improving technology literacy among patients and providers and providing technical assistance to potential users; enhancing privacy and security; supporting demonstration projects, evaluations, and quality measurement; acting as a catalyst for partnerships and collaborations; developing and disseminating tools, research, and best practices; and monitoring e-health activities.
Training the Health Workforce of Tomorrow
In 2001 GIH convened a group of grantmakers and national experts concerned about health workforce issues. This Issue Brief explores issues related to the supply, composition, and competency of the health workforce, and the role that these factors play in maintaining and improving the health status of individual patients and broader populations. Specifically, the report focuses on grantmaker activities in four areas: shifting the geographic distribution of the health workforce to ensure access in underserved areas; improving representation among racial and ethnic minorities; addressing the current shortage of nurses, particularly in inpatient settings; and improving health professionals’ competency in addressing the complex health care needs of the elderly.
Filling the Gap: Strategies for Improving Oral Health
Oral health is a critical component of overall health and well-being. Diseases of the mouth can reduce the quality of life for those who are afflicted and result in lost work and school days. This Issue Brief reviews the burden of oral disease for society’s most vulnerable populations, describes effective strategies for improving oral health, and highlights initiatives of foundations and corporate giving programs that are working to improve oral health.
Early Childhood Development: Putting Knowledge Into Action
Positive early development is essential to the health and well-being of children, and to promoting their success now and in the future. This Issue Brief presents the latest research on early childhood development and explores strategies and opportunities for grantmakers interested in improving the quality and availability of services for young children and their families.
Advancing Quality Through Patient Safety
The Institute of Medicine estimates that between 44,000 and 98,000 lives are lost annually as a result of preventable medical errors. This Issue Brief examines the response to the medical errors crisis across the health care delivery system, as well as how grantmakers working at the national, state, and local levels can contribute to advancing quality through reductions in medical errors and improvements in patient safety.