Groups team up to shape health policy

The institute will be based in Columbus.
Several Ohio foundations are creating the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, an independent, nonpartisan, statewide center that will forecast health trends, analyze key health issues and communicate current research to policy-makers, state agencies and other decision-makers.
Foundations will provide up to $1 million a year for five years to start the organization, said Don Hoffman, president and CEO of the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.
The foundations are Anthem Foundation of Ohio, based in Cincinnati; Cleveland Foundation; George Gund Foundation, Cleveland; Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati; Mount Sinai Health Care Foundation, Cleveland; St. Luke's Foundation of Cleveland; the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Canton; and the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland.
"Several factors have converged to make this a very important and timely thing to do," said Mitchell Balk, president of the Mount Sinai Health Care Foundation.
"The federal government is pushing the states to make more and more health decisions. States are facing difficult financial environments, both now and in the future as our population ages. We need to be looking further ahead to figure out how we can reform our system to provide good care while keeping it affordable," Balk said.
"This is the first time that regional foundations across the state have collaborated on funding an effort that thinks about things at the state policy level," said George Espy, president of the Ohio Grantmakers Forum, a statewide association of foundations and other grant makers.
Supplementing research
Ohio has a number of research centers that do some health-policy work. The institute will not replace these centers; rather, it will help them target their work so their results will be more useful to policy-makers, and get their information into the hands of people who can use it, said Pat O'Connor, vice president for programs of the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati.
The policy institute will concentrate on three tasks:
UResearch: It will promote health-policy research among research centers, universities and other organizations.
UAnalysis: The institute will identify and investigate statewide health issues and trends, with particular focus on Medicaid and the uninsured and underinsured populations.
UCommunication: The institute will establish informative relationships with decision-makers, and develop reports, policy briefings and resources for them.
The Health Policy Institute of Ohio, which plans to open its offices by the end of this year, will be located in Columbus. The Himmelfarb Group is managing the search for a president for the institute. Himmelfarb can be contacted at www.himmelfarbgroup.com or (708) 848-0086.