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Learn how to improve care transitions and prevent avoidable hospital readmissions, and pick up nursing and medical education con-ed credits.
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coverage of RWJF in the news
The Nation's Health: Communities Using Annual Rankings to Improve Health: Program Tracks, Measures County Health
May 1, 2013: Counties nationwide use data from the County Health Rankings, developed by RWJF and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, to highlight the need for public health initiatives to improve the health of residents. The program shows “there is no singular factor that makes a community healthy or unhealthy,” says Abbey Cofsky, MPH, RWJF senior program officer.
Forbes.com: Co-Creating Our Future, One Big Idea at a Time
April 25, 2013: The Ashoka Future Forum is bringing together 400 leading social innovators, business entrepreneurs, philanthropists and journalists to exchange transformative ideas in an effort to solve significant problems in a changing world. RWJF will be among the diverse group of changemakers at the event.
Politico: Health Insurance CO-OPs Gear Up
April 25, 2013: CO-Ops will be competing with large, established insurers for new exchange business under the health law. These new marketplaces are one of the ACA's key mechanisms for expanding affordable coverage. “It remains to be seen whether CO-OPs can effectively market their policies and services to become self-sustaining,” a recent brief from Health Affairs and RWJF states.
Stateline: New Health Exchanges Unlikely to End Insurance Monopolies in Some States
April 25, 2013: Exchanges provide the opportunity for Americans without insurance from their employers to shop around for private insurance, which allows for competition between providers. But in some cases, a dominant carrier can negotiate the best prices with hospitals and then pass along those savings to the insured, in which case consumers don’t necessarily need more than one option.
Read the Stateline storyMcKnights.com: Green House in our midst
April 24, 2013: THE GREEN HOUSE® Project represents a revolution in long-term care, creating small homes that return control, dignity, and a sense of well-being to elders, while providing high-quality, personalized care. The results of this 10-year-old program are happier, healthier elders. RWJF support is helping to spread The Green House model across the United States.
Los Angeles Times: Employer Health Premiums Rose 170% in California in Last Decade
April 24, 2013: Down from 73% three years ago, only 60% of California firms offered health benefits last year due to escalating premium costs. A new study from RWJF-funded State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) found that across the nation, health insurance coverage from employer-sponsored insurance diminished substantially over the last decade.
ModernHealthCare.com: 50 Most Influential Physician Executives‒2013
April 20, 2013: This year's honorees were chosen by readers and senior editors of Modern Healthcare and Modern Physician for their leadership in the varied sectors of the industry, whether provider organizations, government agencies, associations, insurers or supplier companies. RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, is among those being honored this year.
The Washington Post: A Healthy Debate on Healthy Choices in Schools
April 21, 2013: Children across America consume hundreds of billions of calories of junk food at school every year. Parents in Virginia's Fairfax and Montgomery Counties are demanding healthier snacks in school instead of waiting for updated standards from the Department of Agriculture for foods sold in school vending machines and cafeteria lines.
Kaiser Health News Blog: Bipartisan Center Offers Plan To Reduce Health Spending
April 19, 2013: A health care cost containment plan by the Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) offers recommendations such as changes to Medicare policy that would cut the federal deficit by about $560 billion over the next decade. With this RWJF-supported initiative, BPC is working to address unsustainable health care cost growth in the United States.
Huffington Post: Now Is the Time for Food Education
April 19, 2013: Many private corporations have acknowledged America’s incredible agricultural heritage, and fostered cultures that demonstrate an understanding of the connection between the food we eat and our overall health, and not a moment too soon. According to a report from Trust for America's Health and RWJF, more than half of Americans may be obese by 2030.
The Hill Healthwatch Blog: Week Ahead‒Health Officials Prepare Budget Defenses
April 15, 2013: Federal health officials are heading to Capitol Hill for activities such as the National Food Policy Conference, a speech by Senator Mark Pryor, and appearances by Treasury Secretary Jack Lew. Off Capitol Hill, the Kaiser Family Foundation and RWJF will hold a forum Thursday on consumer assistance efforts and how they will matter to the success of the Affordable Care Act.
Read The Hill Healthwatch blogYahoo! News: Michigan Workers Suffer Big Losses in Workplace Health Benefits
April 12, 2013: In the course of the last decade, 1.6 million people in Michigan stopped getting heath care benefits from their employers, a decline of 69.2 percent. Fewer employers are willing to provide health care benefits because of rising premiums, which also makes it less likely that employees will sign up for coverage if it is offered to them, says authors of a new RWJF-funded report.
Bloomberg News: Employer Health Coverage in U.S. on 10-Year Decline
April 11, 2013: Employer health coverage declined drastically with 12 million fewer people covered in 2011 than in 2000, according to a study released today by RWJF and the State Health Access Data Assistance Center. The Affordable Care Act is expected to boost coverage in the United States by 27 million people this decade even as employer-sponsored insurance continues to decline.
The Hill Healthwatch Blog: Employer-Based Health Coverage on the Decline, Study Finds
April 11, 2013: About 11.5 million people who had health insurance through their jobs no longer do, a trend that researchers attribute to rising unemployment rates and high health care costs. According to an RWJF-funded study by the State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC), the average annual premium for individuals with work-based coverage doubled in the last decade.
Los Angeles Times: Fewer Californians Get Health Insurance at Work as Premiums Rise
April 11, 2013: The number of private-sector companies in California offering health benefits fell over the last decade, to 52 percent in 2011 from 57 percent in 2000. People will have new options for insurance coverage in January under the federal healthcare law, with federal premium subsidies for some consumers buying private coverage and Medicaid expansion in some states.
Politico: States' Rare Change to Expand Medicaid
April 11, 2013: If states do not support the Medicaid expansion and take advantage of new private market options, millions of Americans will be left without affordable health insurance coverage and inequities that federal health reform was intended to eliminate will remain. If every state expanded, an additional 21 million Americans could be covered through the Medicaid program.
USA Today: Rate of Employer-Based Health Insurance Keeps Dropping
April 11, 2013: Some employers would rather drop health insurance and pay a $2,000 fine than pay $15,000 per employee to buy it. A state-by-state analysis by RWJF-funded State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC) found that employer-sponsored coverage dropped from 69% to 60% between 1999 and 2010.
The Star-Ledger: Report‒Health Insurance Premiums Rose, Driving Out Employers, Employees
April 11, 2013: In 2011, workers paid more than two and a half times more for an individual insurance policy than they paid a decade earlier, and the trend is likely to continue. In January, every state will have an online marketplace providing consumers and employers with a place to shop for insurance coverage.
MSNBC: The Tax That (Almost) Everyone Can Love
April 11, 2013: President Obama wants to raise the federal levy on cigarettes from $1.01 a pack to $1.95, and use the proceeds to expand early childhood education, possibly sparing a half-million young people from death. An RWJF-funded study published in 2010 by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids concluded that 67% of American voters favored a $1 increase in their state’s cigarette tax.
Politico: RWJF Gets the Gang Back Together
April 10, 2013: It’s been four years since RWJF’s Commission to Build a Healthier America issued recommendations on improving population health, but the group is reconvening with a focus on early childhood and healthy communities. Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, and Alice Rivlin, PhD, are returning as Commission co-chairs.
The Dodge Blog: Learning & Leading When Disaster Philanthropy Comes Home
April 10, 2013: Grantmakers heard from a host of stakeholders about disaster planning, best practices, rebuilding and recovery during the Education Relief and Recovery Conference Call Series which began one week after Hurricane Sandy struck. In February, more than 50 philanthropic leaders, including RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, visited the disaster-affected communities.
Wall Street Journal: Dementia Will Take Toll on Health-Care Spending
April 8, 2013: Forty percent of those 85 and older have Alzheimer’s or related diseases. As baby boomers age, the number of dementia cases will increase along with the health care spending they entail. The Green House Project, co-funded by RWJF and NCB Capital Impact, provides certified nursing assistants and allows for less administrative costs by keeping residents ambulatory.
WGBH News: Poverty Impacts Developing Brains
April 4, 2013: Poverty can disrupt the development of the circuits of the brain, making it difficult for children to learn to control impulses, to plan, to monitor, to solve problems, and to follow directions. Children who grow up poor are more likely to suffer from diabetes and obesity. Early education programs that provide stucture are beneficial in countering the effects of the stress of poverty.
Read the WGBH News articleThe Hill Heathwatch Blog: Study‒Medicaid Expansion Will Help Lower Out-Of-Pocket Costs
April 3, 2013: The Affordable Care Act expands Medicaid eligibility to people with incomes at or below 138 percent of the federal poverty line. States that participate in the Medicaid expansion have an opportunity to significantly decrease financial burdens for a high-need segment of their population, according to a study by RWJF and the Urban Institute.
Wall Street Journal: Smaller Size? No Thanks to This Pledge
March 29, 2013: Later this year, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation will report on its 2010 pledge to remove one trillion calories from the products they sell in U.S. stores and vending machines. "This is the largest and first industry initiatve of this type in the country" says C. Tracy Orleans, PhD, RWJF senior scientist. Counting total calories sold marks a major advance in tracking eating habits.
Huffington Post: 284,000 Uninsured Veterans May Miss Out On Medicaid Coverage If 25 States Reject Expansion: Study
March 27, 2013: As many as 6 million Americans may miss out on Medicaid as a result of states’ decisions not to participate in the Medicaid expansion. According to a new study from RWJF and the Urban Institute, poor, uninsured veterans who would have qualified for Medicaid under the expansion will not be able to access it. Only 25 states and the District of Columbia have said yes so far.
Health Affairs Blog: Addressing the Root Causes of Health Problems: Rebecca Onie of Health Leads
March 22, 2013: Rebecca Onie, RWJF Young Leader Award winner, is cofounder and CEO of Health Leads, an RWJF-funded program that envisions a health care system that addresses all patients’ basic needs as a standard of quality care. This program focuses on the root causes of health problems, because doing so will result in lower-cost health care, said RWJF Chief of Staff Robin Mockenhaupt.
The Miami Herald: Florida Surgeon General: Good Health Starts with Good Jobs, Education
March 22, 2013: County health departments use data from the County Health Rankings to shape health improvement plans, resulting in successes such as higher rates of diabetic screening and smoking cessation. The County Health Rankings, published by RWJF and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, make it clear that health results from many sources beyond clinical care.
USA Today: Habits, Not Hospitals, Affect Counties’ Health Rankings
March 20, 2013: State's healthiest counties tends to be in a suburban areas with higher-income residents, while the least healthy counties have higher concentrations of poor residents with poor eating and exercise habits, according to the County Health Rankings published by RWJF and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute.
ABC News Blog: How Healthy Is Your County?
March 20, 2013: Major differences in health exist between state counties close to one another and even some that share borders. The County Health Rankings and Roadmaps, an RWJF-funded study and website created by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute uses 30 indicators such as obesity rates and income to rank counties within each state from healthiest to least healthy.
Associated Press: Berks County Health Rankings Drop in Statewide Study
March 20, 2013: How healthy you are is strongly linked to where you live in Berks County, Pa., or any other county, according to the County Health Rankings funded by RWJF. "It turns out that social and economic factors are the most powerful (health) predictors," said James S. Marks, MD, RWJF senior vice president. "Where and how people live, learn, work and play greatly affects their health."
Governing: Premature Death Twice as Likely in Least Healthy U.S. Counties
March 20, 2013: Researchers suggest thinking beyond obvious measures and looking at the connection between socioeconomic factors and health, according to the 2013 County Health Rankings published by RWJF and the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute. The recently released winners of the 2013 Roadmaps to Health Prize have taken the rankings and turned them into action.
Read the Governing articleThe Wall Street Journal: Smoking By Teens Steadies
March 19, 2013: The tobacco industry spends an average of $23 million a day marketing its products and in contrast, state funding for anti-smoking efforts has declined. RWJF spent just under $80 million to support anti-smoking efforts in 1999 and donated $10 million in 2009. Like other foundations that more recenlty are focusing on alternate issues, RWJF shifted its focus to combating obesity.
Parenthood.com: For A Strong Heart, Kids Need A Healthy Start
March 15, 2013: Children with a positive home environment and high ability to stay focus and think abstractly are more likely to have good heart health as adults. This is part of a larger conversation about how positive factors can help people live a longer, happier life. RWJF-funded research is showing that there is an integral relationship between our health and how we live, learn, work and play.
Huffington Post Blog: 60-Plus Minutes of Physical Activity a Day Where Kids Live, Learn and Play
March 14, 2013: Our nation's young people are predicted to have a lower life expectancy than most grownups today. In 2007, RWJF committed $500 million to reversing childhood obesity by 2015. Since then, rates are declining in Philadelphia, New York City, Mississippi, and California. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of RWJF wants to keep the momentum going.
U.S. News & World Report: Creating Healthier Communities: Who's Doing It, and How?
March 14, 2013: Six U.S. communities won the Roadmaps to Health Prize, a new initiative from RWJF which funds public health programs. All of the winners placed an emphasis on youth engagement—an aspect underscored by RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD. In many cases, "tapping into our sense as a nation that we want the next generation to be healthier than we are," she says.
Health Affairs Blog: The Human Face of Hospital Readmissions
March 14, 2013: One in five elderly patients winds up back in the hospital within 30 days of leaving. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of RWJF, says that in an effort to pinpoint the human factors behind these numbers, the Foundation commissioned a report as part of the Care About Your Care initiative, devoted to improving the transition from hospital to home.
Read the Health Affairs blogWWNO Radio: New Orleans Awarded Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Roadmaps to Health Prize
March 13, 2013: New Orleans is one of six winners of the inaugural RWJF Roadmaps to Health Prize. The prize honors outstanding community partnerships, which are helping people live healthier lives. Fit NOLA, a Health Department-led, multi-faceted partnership, is working toward the goal of making New Orleans one of the 10 fittest U.S. cities by 2018—the city’s 300th anniversary.
The New York Times: Minority Groups and Bottlers Team Up in Battles Over Soda
March 12, 2013:
The Bloomberg administration plans to appeal the decision against the large, sugary drinks ban, a victory for soda companies and the organizations they funnel millions of dollars to for non-profit and education programs serving Blacks and Hispanics. Anti-obesity advocates remain in favor of soda taxes, as research by RWJF shows that higher prices can drive people to eat fewer unhealthy foods.
The Washington Post: Research Ties Economic Inequality to Gap in Life Expectancy
March 10, 2013: Although life expectancy is increasing, research shows that gains are going mostly to higher-income people. According to the County Health Rankings, published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and RWJF, specific factors shape health outcomes, such as behavior; clinical care; social and economic factors; and the physical environment.
USA Today: Kids Need to Step Up Physical Activity, Report Says
March 8, 2013: A new report produced by the committee for the President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition says that schools are the best place to get kids moving. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, chair of the committee and president and CEO of RWJF, says, "The evidence shows that being physically active can help kids get and stay fit and perform better at their schoolwork."
Read the USA Today article
Reuters: U.S. Childhood Obesity Fight Sees Some Success: Group
March 7, 2013: One in three U.S. youth are obese and another third are overweight. "We're seeing pockets of progress toward reversing the childhood obesity epidemic," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of RWJF. "For progress to reach every corner of our country, we must redouble our efforts: parents, schools, nonprofit organizations, government at all levels, and the private sector."
Read the Reuters articleHuffington Post Blog: Crunch-Time Rules for Parenting and Eating
March 7, 2013: From 3:00 p.m. to bedtime, 60 percent of children are given foods and drinks that can lead to unhealthy weight gain. Also revealed by a new poll by NPR, RWJF, and the Harvard School of Public Health are counter-intuitive rules by parents that are backfiring, such as limiting certain foods or drinks at the table that may encourage children's preferences for sweeter foods or larger portions.
Read the Huffington Post blog
The New York Times: The War On Entitlements
March 5, 2013: Little consensus exists over strategies to deal with the fiscal crises facing Social Security and Medicare. A poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, RWJF and the Harvard School of Public Health found strong oppositions to reductions in benefits and strong support for taxing people who make more than $400,000 a year.
Read The New York Times commentaryU.S.News & World Report: The Less-is-More Approach to Health Care
March 5, 2013: More specialties are joining the Choosing Wisely cause to reduce wasteful medical spending. According to Susan Mende, senior program officer at RWJF, the campaign "provides a platform for providers and patients to have conversations about avoiding unnecessary care and changing the paradigm for more care is always better care to the right care is better care."
Read the U.S.News & World Report article
The New York Times: Construction That Focuses on Health of Residents
March 5, 2013: Health impact assessments look at direct relationships between the built environment and health to alleviate environmental conditions in housing projects that contribute to illness such as heart disease and obesity. The need to identify and mitigate these negative influences prompted the development of the Health Impact Project, a collaboration of RWJF and the Pew Charitable Trusts.
Read The New York Times articleHealth Affairs Blog: The Two Sides of the Hospital Readmissions Coin
March 5, 2013: Although little progress has been made in reducing hospital readmissions for the elderly, care transitions are improved when patients, their families, nurses and communities work together and share best practices. Agreement was reached by participants of Care About Your Care, a month-long initiative focused on reducing avoidable readmissions, that hospitals can't do it alone.
Healthline: Sharing is Caring: Social Network Allows Patients to Share Diagnoses and Test Results
March 4, 2013: PatientsLikeMe, an open-source health network, not only allows patients with similar conditions to connect, but also provides data to researchers. This new RWJF-funded platform may play a role in future scientific research and patient care by providing a venue for the development of health outcome measurement.
NPR: Your Child’s Fat, Mine’s Fine: Rose-Colored Glasses and The Obesity Epidemic
March 4, 2013: Due to optimism bias, we have a tendency to underestimate the likelihood that we will experience anything negative in our lives, including obesity. It turns out that adults have the same false sense of security about their children becoming obese, mainly because of two areas in the brain where the bias exists.
American Medical News: Campaign to Fight Unneeded Tests Targets “More is Better Mindset”
March 4, 2013: The Choosing Wisely Campaign is helping physicians and patients make smart decisions about their care, indicating medical interventions that should be questioned or avoided. These include routine tests for low-risk, asymptomatic patients, espeically when they do not improve patient care or outcomes.
NPR: Selling Kids on Veggies When Rules Like ‘Clean Your Plate’ Fail
March 4, 2013: According to a poll from NPR, RWJF and the Harvard School of Public Health, children in 25 percent of families are told to eat everything on their plate. Unfortunately, this can backfire, eliciting negative responses from those who question whether there is something wrong with eating vegetables since they aren't rewarded with dessert unless they eat them first.
Read the NPR storyEbony: Our Children Have More to Lose if We Don’t Change the Way We Eat
March 1, 2013: Putting their attachment to fat-laden, tranditional dishes on the back burner, parents rally for their children to eat healthier. According to a study by the Kids Safe and Healthy Food Project, a joint project by the Pew Charitable Trusts and RWJF, parents support strong guidelines for food sold in school cafeterias.
NPR: Sacrificing Sleep Makes For Run-Down Teens—And Parents
March 1, 2013: Sleep deprivation causes our bodies to store more fat, setting the stage for problems including weight gain and Type 2 diabetes. A poll by NPR, RWJF and the Harvard School of Public Health examines challenges in helping children achieve or maintain a healthy weight.
Read the NPR story
Forbes: PatientsLikeMe Is Building a Self-Learning Healthcare System
March 1, 2013: PatientsLikeMe is a social media platform designed for patients to connect while they learn about their medical condition and track progress in treatment. The aim of this new, RWJF-funded initiative is to make health care better through sharing, support, and research, by capturing data that otherwise would be undocumented.
Read the Forbes articleWIRED: Social Network Could Revolutionize Disease Treatment
February 26, 2013: A $1.9 million grant from RWJF will be used to build an open science platform to help patients measure the progression of their own diseases. "By building a bridge to formalize that data and share it with scientists who can act on it, PatientsLikeMe’s new platform could prove to be the most legitimately useful social app yet built," says WIRED magazine.
Read the WIRED opinion piece
Forbes: Doctors Call Out 90 More Unnecessary Medical Tests, Procedures
February 21, 2013: More isn't necessarily better when it comes to health care, according to the Choosing Wisely campaign launched by Consumer Reports and the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation. "Reducing the overuse of health care resources is a critical part of improving quality of health care in America," said Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of RWJF.
Forbes: Failure to Communicate: Why Seniors Are Readmitted to the Hospital So Often
February 18, 2013: Doctors and nurses describe senior patients as non-compliant and anxious to leave while elders view hospitalization as overwhelming, often unable to understand complicated instructions. A new report by RWJF looks at the revolving door syndrome from two perspectives.
Associated Press: No One Fix to Slow Hospital Readmission Epidemic
February 10, 2013: Avoidable rehospitalizations cost more than $17 billion a year as nearly 1 in 5 Medicare patients ends up back in the hospital within a month of discharge. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, president and CEO of RWJF, says "everyone must understand their role in improving the quality of care, including families," the premise of Care About Your Care, a coordinated effort let by the Foundation.
Los Angeles Times: Cutting Calories is Good Business for Restaurants, Study Says
February 7, 2013: An RWJF-funded study by the Hudson Institute reports that food chains increased lower-calorie food and beverage servings to 472 billion, which generated a 5.5 percent increase in same-store sales. This effort, and the federal government's mandate for nutrition labeling, are examples of many public and private efforts to bring the nation's obesity epidemic under control.
Star-Ledger: Tom Kean Steps Down from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Editorial
February 4, 2013: Tom Kean ends his eight-year tenure as chairman of the RWJF Board of Trustees, and more than two decades of service as a board member. Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, the Foundation's president and CEO, says "he has been an enormous leader who has really taught us how to use this very core principle of his, inclusion, to enhance the impact of our work."
Reuters: Rules Call for Swing to Healthier Snacks in Schools
February 1, 2013: The U.S. Department of Agriculture proposed new rules covering some 50 million children that are part of the school lunch program, including a calorie limit on items sold in vending machines. "The proposed nutrition standards, the first update in more than 30 years, are long overdue and badly needed," says Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
SmartPlanet: Reading, Writing and Raisins: How School Food Innovations are Reducing Childhood Obesity
January 29, 2013: Private sector partners are joining the movement to make school food healthier, and although childhood obesity rates are dropping in some cities, James Marks, senior vice president and director of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, says that encouraging signs should be treated with cautious optimism.
Nurse: Study Highlights Lack of Nurse-Led QI Activities
January 29, 2013: Nurse researchers reported an increase in hospital programs aimed at engaging staff RNs in quality improvement activities, but found little difference in participation levels of more recently licensed RNs, according to an RN Work Project study funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Slate: How One Woman Started Her Own Insurance Company so Freelancers Could Get Health Benefits
January 28, 2013: Sara Horowitz created the Freelancers Insurance Company, which provides health coverage for almost 25,000 New Yorkers, by finding ways to protect and organize in the same way classic trade unions do. Her future vision is a new form of unemployment insurance for the contractor class, says Slate magazine.
Politico: Public Not Keen on Washington’s Medicare Ideas
January 25, 2013: Nearly 60 percent of Americans are against reductions in Medicare spending, and 46 percent are against cuts in Medicaid, according to a new poll released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the Harvard School of Public Health.
Your News Now: WIC kids Are Eating Healthier, Less Obese
January 18, 2013: Children enrolled in New York State's Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) showed a drop in obesity rates as a result of new initiatives in the program that promote healthier lifestyles and food choices, a new study funded by RWJF and the New York State Health Foundation finds.
Read the Your News Now articleU.S. News: Why Aren't Americans Healthier?
January 15, 2013: A new report finds the United States lagging behind similar nations in life expectancy and other key indicators of the health of the population. RWJF Senior Vice President James Marks calls the report "a damning indictment of how we've done" in promoting a culture of health.
Read the U.S. News articleNurse.com Kicks Off Anniversary by Celebrating 25 Key Nursing Figures
January 14, 2013: Pillars of the nursing community are recognized, including Susan Hassmiller of RWJF for The Future of Nursing: Campaign for Action, a collaborative effort created by RWJF and the AARP, which she says "strives to increase access to high-quality, patient-centered care in the health care system where nurses contribute as essential partners in achieving success."
Star-Ledger: Solving the NJ Nursing Shortage: Opinion
January 8, 2013: The RWJF-funded New Jersey Nursing Initiative (NJNI), designed to prevent a potential shortage of nurses, is not only supporting individual scholars but working on strategies around the state's aging nursing population. In a guest column in the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., RWJF Vice President John R. Lumpkin and Susan Bakewell-Sachs, program director of the NJNI, say, "Filling the nurse faculty pipeline will help turn the tide and avert a crisis."
Star-Ledger: Branch Brook Park in Newark Presented $1 Million Grant
January 7, 2013: The RWJF grant will support projects to rehabilitate a two-mile walking trail and create a new entrance for the Urban Farm Greenhouse. In gratitude, the Star-Ledger of Newark reports, the Branch Brook Park Alliance dedicated a park bench to former New Jersey Governor and RWJF Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas Kean.
Star-Ledger: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Chief Combines Drive, Dedication and a Warm Heart
January 6, 2013: RWJF President and CEO Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, MD, has a talent for blending in with the crowd, says the Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J., in a recent profile. But make no mistake: She is a "high-powered CEO with a soft touch, a leader known for her handwritten notes and quiet strength."
Read The Star-Ledger profileABC News: Too Many Doctors Can Hurt a Patient in 'Bystander Effect'
January 3, 2013: Research suggests that people are less likely to offer help in an emergency when others are present. A similar phenomenon may be at work in cases where patients have many doctors, as one assumes the other is responsible. That's according to a study by RWJF Clinical Scholar Jason Lott, MD, and Robert R. Stavert, MD.
Chronicle of Philanthropy: 5 From the Nonprofit World Who Will Influence Public Policy in 2013
January 3, 2013: Among the most prominent: Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. A sign that Lavizzo-Mourey wants to step up her foundation’s influence in Washington: The grant maker just appointed its first vice president for public policy.
Newsday: Goldmark: Teaching Conflict Resolution, One Playground At a Time
January 1, 2013: The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned a professional evaluation of Playworks, a Foundation grantee. Peter Goldmark, in a weekly column in Newsday of Long Island, notes that the findings are impressive. Schools in which Playworks is implemented report improved student behavior, better conflict resolution skills, less aggression, and enhanced academic performance.
Read the Newsday columnNBC News: Not Just Child's Play: Don't Take Away Recess, Docs Argue
December 30, 2012: Kids need to get out and play, but grade schools are dropping the ball. Scientific evidence strongly supports the case for recess, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, but schools are eliminating structured play time. Recess, the docs say, boosts intellectual and physical performance, and they urge schools to restore play breaks.
Star-Ledger: N.J. Among the Worst Tobacco-Fighting States: Opinion
December 29, 2012: We’ve known for a while that a lack of funding for New Jersey’s tobacco prevention program hurt its effectiveness. Now, it has hit a new low on a national stage.
Read The Star-Ledger opinion pieceHuffington Post: Choosing Wellness: Transparency in Health Care
December 21, 2012: Today, consumers must take an active role in their own health care and choose providers and hospitals who consistently deliver high-quality and high-value care. It's critical if we want to rein in spiraling costs and enhance care, and if we want to achieve effective, life-long management of chronic conditions.
Read the Huffington Post commentaryLas Vegas Review: Nevada Near the Bottom of National Survey of State Emergency Readiness
December 20, 2012: Two top Nevada public safety officials said Wednesday that they think the state is better prepared to respond to disasters, diseases, bioterrorism and extreme weather than the ranking it got in a national survey.
Read the Las Vegas Review Journal article
USA Today: States Losing Ground in Emergency Preparedness
December 19, 2012: The nation's ability to respond to a wide range of deadly emergencies, from salmonella-tainted melons to weather events like Superstorm Sandy to bioterrorism, is losing ground after years of progress, says a report out Wednesday.
Read the USA Today article
Trenton Times: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Marks 40 Years Benefiting Public Health
November 26, 2012: As it marks 40 years of attending to the public’s health, the country’s largest philanthropic foundation is credited for its role in the creation of the nation’s 911 emergency system; the dramatic decrease in unwanted teenage pregnancies; and evolving perceptions of hospice care.
Read the Trenton Times editorial