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Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust: October 2025
Three new fact sheets inform funders about how recent federal budget cuts will impact health care access, food assistance, and the health of immigrant families. The fact sheets detail what is being cut, when the cuts will take effect, and what to do next.
Responding to a Rural Hospital Closure: The Importance of a Phased, Multi-Pronged Approach
It has been over a year since the August 31, 2024, closure of a beloved community hospital in Ayer, Massachusetts following the bankruptcy of the private equity-backed Steward Health Care system. The impacts of the Nashoba Valley Medical Center closure continue to reverberate across this rural working-class region, adding to a growing sense of abandonment and frustration that has accumulated over waves of health care service cuts.
Designing Inclusive and Equity-Centered Health System Improvement Projects—Lessons from Three Initiatives
Disparities in access to health care persist for individuals with low incomes and Black, Hispanic/Latinx and Native American/Native Alaskan individuals and are particularly acute in behavioral health. Behavioral health care utilization rates among Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults are less than half those of White adults. These disparities exist because of barriers in access such as limited provider networks, poor language access, a lack of culturally-aligned services, and technological barriers to telehealth. Working with health providers to create inclusive and accessible services is essential to building more equitable access to behavioral health care, and to healthier and happier families and communities.
To Improve Youth Mental Health, Funders Must Center Youth Voices
As youth mental health challenges continue to grow nationwide, a new initiative in Greater Cincinnati believes transformational change begins when youth are empowered to lead.
Georgia Health Initiative: July 2025
The Georgia Health Initiative released a new report titled “The Public Health Emergency Medicaid Unwinding: Georgia’s Redeterminations Experience,” which explores promising practices and lessons learned during the unwinding of Georgia’s Medicaid coverage. It also highlights ways these findings can support ongoing efforts to strengthen health coverage access in Georgia.
REACH Healthcare Foundation and United Methodist Health Ministry Fund: May 2025
The United Methodist Health Ministry Fund and REACH Healthcare Foundation recently partnered with experts from Manatt Health to shed light on the potential impacts of $880 billion in cuts to the Medicaid program on Kansas.
Publications and Reports
Implementing Health Care Reform: Funders and Advocates Respond to the Challenge
With provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act set to take effect over the next four years, grantmakers and advocacy groups have been developing activities to address the early stages of health care reform implementation. This report is based on over 40 interviews with national and state grantmakers and advocacy organizations about their initial work around implementation.
Comparative Effectiveness Research: Informing Decisions and Improving Quality
Comparative effectiveness research (CER) is the study of methods to “prevent, diagnose, treat, and monitor a clinical condition or to improve the delivery of care” (IOM 2009). Its purpose is to assist consumers, clinicians, purchasers, and policymakers in making informed decisions that will improve health care at both the individual and population levels (IOM 2009).
Improving Diversity in the Health Professions
Why do many disadvantaged groups in the United States, including people of color and low-income populations, still lack reliable access to highquality, affordable health care? Why are these groups also among the most affected by persistent and ever-widening disparities in health and health care?