IPHI receives grants to increase awareness of health-care service delivery and related policy issues

The Institute for Population Health Improvement (IPHI) has received grants totaling $423,236 from the California HealthCare Foundation and The California Endowment to increase awareness of evidence-based policies to address a wide range of health issues facing California and the nation.

The new grants support the establishment of the California Health Policy Forum in IPHI and management of the Sacramento Health Policy Briefings series, provide centralized leadership for both programs within IPHI, and broaden UC Davis' presence in policy issues at the state capitol. The programs are designed to inform legislative and state agency staff, and are open to anyone interested in the topics, including the public and students.

"The California HealthCare Foundation and The California Endowment have a long history of supporting efforts to provide independent and non-partisan platforms for education, idea sharing and conversations about important health-related issues facing the state," said Kenneth W. Kizer, IPHI director and a distinguished professor at the UC Davis School of Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing. "The grants will enable these programs to better serve their target audiences."

A $214,325 grant from the California HealthCare Foundation supports outreach and logistical coordination for the Sacramento Health Policy Briefings series. These briefings focus on health-care service delivery and related policy issues. An Oct. 31 briefing held at the California State Association of Counties Conference Center, for example, focused on bringing greater transparency to cancer care in California.

A $100,000 grant from The California Endowment and a second grant from the California HealthCare Foundation for $108,911 will establish the California Health Policy Forum within IPHI and focus on building capacity among legislative and state agency staff responsible for developing and implementing health policy. A wide range of health, health-care and population-health topics will be addressed, and IPHI will be developing all of the topics, content and speakers for the project's briefings and policy briefs. A component of the grant from The California Endowment further strengthens efforts to develop evidence-based health policy in California by supporting state health policy staff attendance at conferences and educational forums to obtain the latest evidence, innovations and thinking on pressing health issues.

Kizer is the principal investigator on the grants and Karen K. Shore, an established policy thought leader in the state, will direct the program.