Managed Care - August 2008 - (Page 23) HEALTH PLAN CONVERSION FOUNDATIONS BY ASSETS, continued Foundation Foundation for a Healthy Kentucky, Louisville, Ky. Universal Health Care Foundation, Meriden, Conn. Consumer Health Foundation, Washington, D.C. Connecticut Health Foundation, New Britain, Conn. Health Foundation of Greater Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Ind. Con Alma Health Foundation, Santa Fe, N.M. Anthem Foundation of Ohio, Cincinnati, Ohio HNHfoundation, Concord, N.H. Georgia Health Foundation, Atlanta, Ga. Prime Health Foundation, Kansas City, Mo. Greater St. Louis Health Foundation, Saint Louis, Mo. Community Health Partnership, Portland, Ore. Benefactor Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kentucky to Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Connecticut to Anthem Group Health Association to Humana ConnectiCare to for-profit Grant focus Access, mental health, nutrition, fitness, tobacco and substance abuse Health advocacy Access, AIDS, health disparities Oral health, children’s mental health, racial disparities in health *Assets $56 million Inception year 2001 $51 million $42 million $30 million 2000 1994 1999 Metropolitan Health Council HIV/AIDS advocacy/prevention, to HealthAmerica access, school health and obesity Blue Cross & Blue Shield of New Mexico to Health Care Service Corp. Access $30 million 1985 $29 million 2001 Community Insurance Co. to Oral health, family violence, Anthem indigent health New Hampshire Blue Cross & Children’s health, promotion Blue Shield to Matthew healthy lifestyles Thornton Health Plan Georgia Medical Plan to Cigna Access, education, preventive care $25 million $24 million 1999 1997 $9 million $6 million $4.5 million 1985 1989 1985 Prime Health Plan to Humana Health care education, disease management Group Health Plan of Greater Health promotion, illness St. Louis to Group Health prevention Plan Health Choice to Benova Access for uninsured and under- $1.4 million insured 1999 * Source: Grantmakers in Health October 2007 report, “Findings from the 2006 Survey of Foundations Formed from Health Care Conversions,” and others * Assets rounded off grantmakers and grantees. At $450 million in total annual giving, plan foundations are a small fraction. However, plan foundations differ from national foundations in that their missions and their service areas are local. While the Gates foundation gave $1 million in June to reduce HIV risks in urban areas of China, Community Health Foundation of Western and Central New York gave $1 million to train 100 Buffalo area health care executives after recognizing the area had a shrinking labor and talent pool. While it is universally agreed that some founda- tions do important work, others do not make a big difference, says Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. “There’s a lot of mediocre funding of status-quo health programs that leave you saying ‘So what?’” Once formed, foundations can bypass public support and pretty much do as they please as long as no laws are broken. “All foundations operate remarkably free of accountability,” says Dorfman of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy. “There’s a low level, persistent rumbling to be more critical of foundations, but it’s disorgan- AUGUST 2008 / MANAGED CARE 23
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