Health Care Reform Advocacy

Request for Proposals: General Operating Support for Health Care Reform Advocacy and Lobbying Proposal deadline: January 28, 2011

With skyrocketing health care costs and deteriorating availability of affordable care, there is agreement nationally and throughout Oregon that health care needs to be more affordable, available to everyone, and focused on improved health outcomes. In 2010, Congress passed the landmark Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).  In 2009, Oregon’s legislature created the Oregon Health Authority (OHA)to align state health purchasers and programs and the Oregon Health Policy Board (OHPB), the policy-making and oversight body for the OHA which was charged to create a comprehensive health reform plan for Oregon.

In 2011, the Oregon legislature will consider numerous health care reform bills, many of which were created as a result of the OHPB’s comprehensive health reform plan.  There is an important opportunity for health reform advocacy efforts to shape the next phase of health care reform implementation.

Health Care Reform Advocacy Operating Support Opportunity
The inclusion of a broad array of voices in the health reform debate will ensure that the health care system is designed to address the needs of all Oregonians. As a follow-up to a series of health care reform advocacy grants the Northwest Health Foundation has made over the past two years, this Request for Proposals seeks to provide general operating support for health reform advocacy activities in conjunction with the 2011 Oregon Legislative session.  The purpose of these grants is to bolster the work that organizations are already doing—the Foundation is not requesting ideas for new projects through this RFP. 

While successful applicants need to demonstrate they have current experience in the area of health care reform advocacy, the amount of time dedicated to advocacy by each grantee is expected to vary greatly, from those organizations that concentrate solely on health care reform advocacy to those that have limited experience in the area.

The Northwest Health Foundation is particularly interested in supporting organizations whose work in health reform advocacy seeks to:

• Improve the health care payment or delivery system;
• Promote health equity, including confronting cultural, economic, or other systemic barriers to accessing quality health care;
• Facilitate the implementation of health information technology;
• Ensure the creation of a health insurance exchange that is designed to address the needs of all Oregonians;
• Promote prevention and public health integration within health care reform efforts;
• Address health workforce concerns;
• Work in collaboration with the business community;
• Confront the unique health reform needs in rural areas; and
• Address mental or oral health care reform.