Creating a coverage institute to bring together state officials who are working on health reform to develop those reforms

Given the lack of action on coverage policy at the federal level, state health care reform efforts currently offer the greatest potential to expand coverage. Recent enactment of comprehensive health care reform by Massachusetts has demonstrated the feasibility of significant bipartisan action on coverage and thereby drawn the attention of many other states. At least half of the states are now in some stage of active discussions about new health care reform efforts. One barrier to these efforts is the lack of technical expertise to assist development and design of new health care policy. To meet this need, the State Coverage Initiatives program (SCI), funded by the Foundation, will host a Coverage Institute which will provide 8 to 10 participating states with information, direct consultation with experts, and the opportunity to network with other states. Participating states will be chosen through a competitive review process. Coverage Institute resources will include two national meetings, site visits with expert consultants and other technical assistance as needed. After the first meeting, SCI will conduct a limited competition among Institute participants to select four or five states to move on to a second phase of Coverage Institute resources. In this phase, participating states will receive small grants ($25K) and consulting services that will permit the modeling of plan elements to assess impact on cost, utilization, and different populations ($1.3M).

Grant Details

Amount Awarded $2,788,243.00

Awarded on: 7/20/2007

Time frame: 8/1/2007 - 10/31/2010

Grant Number: 62825