Health Policy Update: May 15, 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.
Reducing Hospital Readmissions: What Is at Stake and What Will it Take?
Nearly one in five Medicare inpatients is readmitted to the hospital in the 30 days following discharge, most often for reasons relating to the original hospital stay. Such read missions are very costly, accounting for more than $17 billion annually in Medicare spending. With the view that many rehospitalizations could be averted through improvements in health care delivery, finding the path to reduce read missions and capture the resulting savings has seized the imagination of many policy wonks and spurred attention, along with some action, on the front lines.
Returning the Mouth to the Body: Integrating Oral Health & Primary Care
GIH convened the Issue Dialogue Returning the Mouth to the Body: Integrating Oral Health Care and Primary Care to discuss the benefits, challenges, and approaches to integrating oral health and primary care. This Issue Brief synthesizes key points from the day’s discussion with a background paper previously prepared for meeting participants.
The Supreme Court Decision on the Affordable Care Act: Forging Ahead
On June 28, 2012, the Supreme Court of the United States delivered its decision on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). In a five-to-four ruling, the court largely upheld the ACA, maintaining important provisions already in place and paving the way for a fundamental transformation of the health care system. Following the decision, GIH held several webinars analyzing the implications of the ruling.
Health Advocacy: Yes, No, or Maybe So?
Although engagement in public policy is viewed as a mission-critical strategy by an increasing number of health funders, many foundations are still considering whether and how they should support health advocacy efforts. This Issue Focus article briefly addresses some of the key questions foundations are likely to confront as they determine what role, if any, they should play in the public policy arena.
Medical Homes 101
First championed by the American Academy of Pediatrics more than 40 years ago, the medical home is a team-based health care delivery model led by a physician that provides comprehensive, continuous, and coordinated primary and preventive medical care to patients.
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