Safety-net providers are an essential source of health care for vulnerable populations, including the uninsured, the underinsured, and undocumented immigrants. Cuts in Medicaid funding further threaten this already fragile infrastructure. Policymakers, advocates, and foundations can all play a role in shoring up safety net providers. Over the past decade, the Independence Foundation, a private foundation located in Philadelphia, has made a series of strategic investments, totaling approximately $20 million, in nurse-managed health centers, an emerging and promising type of safety-net provider. This article explains what nurse-managed health centers are, describes the lessons learned by our foundation in supporting development of a nurse-managed health center network in Philadelphia, and offers some thoughts about how to nurture their development elsewhere.
