UNDERWRITERS
The Remaking American Medicine broadcast series and companion national outreach campaign would not have been possible without the support of several generous underwriters. Their generosity will have a sustaining impact on the issue of quality improvement long after the series broadcast has aired.
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
The Foundation provided major underwriting
for Remaking American Medicine and the supporting National Partnership Program,
a fundamental element of the outreach campaign. The Foundation's initial engagement
of Crosskeys Media to produce Pursuing Perfection in Health Care, an educational
video series intended for the health acre community and based on the Foundation's
Pursing Perfection initiative, led directly to the development of the series and
the national outreach campaign.
Established in 1972, The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, based in Princeton,
N.J. is the largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to health and health care
in the United States. They concentrate their grant making to programs and projects
that address the following:
- Assurance that all Americans have access to quality health care at reasonable cost.
- Improvement in health quality of care and support for people with chronic health conditions.
- Promotion of healthy communities and lifestyles; and
- Activities that reduce the personal, social and economic harm caused by substance abuse - tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs.
To learn more, visit www.rwjf.org
Amgen Foundation
The Amgen Foundation was the lead sponsor for Remaking American Medicine. Their generosity helped fund the series and also funded the PBS Incentive Grants Program that provided resources for stations to more fully participate in local coalition activities. In addition, the National Symposium on Quality Health Care Improvement, which served as the series premiere and launch event immediately before the broadcast was made possible through Amgen.
The Amgen Foundation seeks to advance science education; improve patient access to quality care; and strengthen the communities where Amgen staff members live and work. Since 1991, the Foundation has made $70 million in grants to local, regional and national non-profit organizations that impact society in inspiring and innovative ways. It has also supported disaster relief efforts both domestically and internationally.
To learn more visit: www.amgen.com/citizenship/overview.html
The Nathan Cummings Foundation
The Nathan Cummings Foundation funded the Remaking
American Medicine national media/broadcast promotional campaign. The
media campaign generated viewer interest in the broadcast while stimulating
more coverage of innovations in quality improvement by health care reporters..
The Nathan Cummings Foundation is rooted in the Jewish tradition and committed
to democratic values and social justice, including fairness, diversity,
and community. Established in 1985, they seek to build a socially and economically
just society that values and protects the ecological balance for future
generations; promotes humane health care; and fosters arts and culture that
enriches communities. Several basic themes run through all of its programs
and inform the Foundation's approach to grant making.
These include:
- Concern for the poor, disadvantaged, and underserved.
- Respect for diversity.
- Promotion of understanding across cultures; and
- Empowerment of communities in need.
To learn more visit www.ncf.org
The Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation
The Foundation gave a grant to Remaking American Medicine
that furthers the Foundation's focus on improving the education of health
professionals, particularly physicians. The Foundation's grant was used
to assist with production of Program Four - “Hand in Hand” --
which tells the story of patients and families who have formed a unique
bond in a teaching hospital in Augusta, Georgia, to transform the institution
into a nationally recognized facility, where partnership is a guiding vision
to the care it delivers.
Since its inception in 1930, the Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation has been dedicated
to improving the way in which health professionals are educated and trained,
in order to better serve and improve the health of the public. The Foundation
supports programs designed to improve the education of health professionals
in the interest of the health of the public, and to enhance the representation
of minorities in the health profession. Among their areas of particular
emphasis in grant making are:
- Projects to improve medical and health professional education in the context of the changing health care system.
- Projects that will increase diversity among health care professionals.
- Projects that demonstrate or encourage ways to increase teamwork between and among health care professionals; and
- Educational strategies to increase care for underserved populations.
To learn more visit www.josiahmacyfoundation.org
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)
This federal agency provided funding to the outreach campaign
to further the engagement of state-based patient organizations, health care
purchasers and traditionally underserved groups such as minority and rural
populations in grass roots activities around the broadcast series. Much
of this work was undertaken through local/regional coalitions organized
by Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs).
Initially created in 1989 as the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research,
AHRQ is an agency within the Department of Health and Human Services. Its
mission is to support research designed to improve the quality, safety,
efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. The research
sponsored, conducted, and disseminated by AHRQ provides information that
helps people make better decisions about health care.
To learn more visit www.ahrq.gov
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
CMS, a federal agency within the Department of Health and
Human Services, supportied Remaking American Medicine and the national
outreach campaign in two distinct ways. CMS authorized the involvement of
all Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) in the project and the supporting
outreach campaign because of the unique opportunities the broadcast presents
to promote quality improvement, which is central to the QIO mission.
Subsequent to the authorization, CMS awarded contracts to ten QIOs to create
state level projects that help them take advantage of their campaign participation.
In addition, CMS contracted with Crosskeys Media to provide hands-on support
including helping QIOs more effectively tie in their quality work with the
series and campaign. To help facilitate QIO engagement with other like-minded
institutions working on the campaign, CMS provided core funding for the
development of this Web site. CMS's support provided the underpinnings to
the development of local/regional coalitions around the country.
CMS's Mission is to assure health care security for its beneficiaries. The
agency opens its programs to full partnership with the entire health community
to improve quality and efficiency in an evolving health care system. Their
goals include:
- Protecting and improve beneficiary health and satisfaction.
- Fostering appropriate and predictable payments and high quality care.
- Promoting understanding of CMS programs among beneficiaries, the health care community, and the public.
- Promoting the fiscal integrity of CMS programs and be an accountable steward of public funds.
- Fostering excellence in the design and administration of CMS programs.
- Providing leadership in the broader health care marketplace to improve health.
To learn more visit www.cms.hhs.gov
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts provided funds to support the outreach campaign and the RAM two consumer sites and ramcampaign.org.
At Blue Cross Blue Shield, we are committed to improving the health and wellness of our 2.9 million members. We are committed to assisting physicians and hospitals in their mission to continuously improve the extraordinary quality of care that makes our state's healthcare world-renowned.
