Leadership in Action
See associated grant program:
Our health care system is in a period of transformation. While much of the recent public conversation has been around insurance expansion through exchanges and Medicaid eligibility, the quieter and less politically controversial reality in the health care delivery system has been to increase focus on value rather than volume, to realize the promise of information technology, and to use our understanding of what drives high-cost and low-quality care in order to stop indulging ourselves in business as usual. In this fast-changing environment, we believe there are significant opportunities for geriatric expertise to catalyze change in the way health care is delivered to older adults.
The Interprofessional Leadership in Action portfolio will focus on three key areas: bridging disciplines, developing leadership skills, and driving practice and policy change. Grants in this portfolio will strengthen the experts in geriatric care that the Foundation has supported over the past 30 years, as well as emerging leaders poised to make change in a variety of clinical and community environments. We will arm these talented individuals with the tools, skills, resources, and opportunities they need to improve health care.
In the past, our grantmaking primarily supported discipline-specific efforts in medicine, nursing, and social work. Today’s health care system challenges are complex and require interdisciplinary solutions. Grants in this portfolio, therefore, will deliberately bring interdisciplinary groups together to inspire connections and collaborative, team-based practice improvements.
The Hartford Change AGEnts Initiative (see Harnessing the Power of Hartford Change AGEnts) is our signature program in this area, but leadership development is nothing new for the Foundation. Some of our other grants in the portfolio are expansions of our long-standing support for successful programs such as the Health and Aging Policy Fellows and Practice Change Leaders (see blue box below).
We are connecting health professionals across disciplines and building their leadership skills because this core group of geriatrics experts are in the best position to drive the widespread practice and policy changes needed at the local, state, regional, and national levels. These changes will transform the care of older Americans.
Examples include:
Funding: $1.6 million over three years to the Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene, Inc.
What It Does: Supports an additional 44 fellows over three years to gain the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that improve the health of older Americans. Among the fellowship alumni, with their placements, are:
Partners: The Atlantic Philanthropies, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the Gerontological Society of America, the Veterans Health Administration.
Funding: $1.5 million over three years to the University of Colorado, Denver.
What It Does: Funds 30 fellows over three years, who are expected to directly or indirectly improve organization and delivery of health care to hundreds of thousands of older adults. Seeks to develop effective leaders who champion high-quality care and promote a prominent role for older adults in the care they receive.
Partner: The Atlantic Philanthropies
