By: Megan Collado, AcademyHealth
At AcademyHealth, we believe that the most effective health care policy is informed by objective, rigorous evidence, and we have a long history of supporting the generation of new evidence through our management of grantmaking program and initiatives. For 25 years, AcademyHealth served as the national program office for the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's (RWJF) Changes in Health Care Financing and Organization (HCFO) grantmaking program, and we continue to manage special topic solicitations for the Foundation covering a broad array of issues.
In 2015, RWJF funded five grantees through the first round of funding from the Policy-Relevant Insurance Studies (PRIS) program. The PRIS program emphasizes quick turnaround studies examining highly policy-relevant questions related to health insurance markets. The inaugural grantees are examining current policies and/or potential policy changes and their effect on coverage issues, including considerations of Medicaid expansion and self-insurance in the small group market, among other topics. AcademyHealth is currently working with these grantees as they conduct their studies and disseminate their findings.
The Foundation recently announced the 2016 PRIS Call for Proposals (CFP), which again places priority on highly policy-relevant research questions and rapid-turnaround projects, but this time the CFP focuses on the issue of affordability of health insurance. Despite a significant reduction in the uninsured rate of the United States population after the passage of the Affordable Care Act, millions of eligible individuals remain uninsured, with concerns about affordability and high-quality health coverage. At the same time, a number of carriers are experiencing financial difficulties in these new marketplaces, while impending mergers among large carriers raise questions about the price effects of further consolidation in health care. Proposals for research that will directly inform the policy process will be prioritized during the selection process. Do you have questions about the PRIS program or CFP? Contact the project staff at polstudies@rwjf.org. Applications are due Friday, February 19, 2016 at 3:00 pm ET.
Megan Collado, M.P.H., is a senior manager at AcademyHealth, where she co-directs and supports a number of Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grantmaking programs and is the Project Director of an AHRQ-sponsored conference grant that convenes policy audiences to discuss the evidence and future research needs related to health care costs, financing, organization and markets.