PA Health Funders look for opportunity to work with Wolf Administration

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro speaks with the Pennsylvania Health Funders Collaborative on November 6, 2019.

Pennsylvania health and community foundations gathered in Harrisburg on November 6 and 7 for the 13^th Annual PA Health Funders Collaborative Conference (PHFC). PHFC is a statewide network of 45 foundations in communities across the Commonwealth that works at the intersection of health philanthropy and policy. The conference focused on how to best to align and advance the foundations' shared priorities within the remaining three years of the Wolf Administration.

PHFC's co-chairs, Karen Feinstein and Russell Johnson, welcomed the members to the conference. PHFC members dove into policies that finance housing, strengthen nonprofit hospital community benefit opportunities, and enforce mental health parity laws. Conference speakers included health policy experts Mike Nardone, Former Director of the CMS Disabled and Elderly Health Programs Group, Amy Clary, Senior Policy Associate at NASHP, David Lloyd, National Senior Policy Advisor at The Kennedy Forum, and Ben Miller, Chief Strategy Officer at the Well Being Trust. PHFC members also explored public/private partnership opportunities with PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro, Deputy Chief of Staff Alison Beam, Insurance Commissioner Jessica Altman, and PA Health Insurance Exchange Director Zach Sherman. After dinner on the first day, Lauren Bierman, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at Global Strategy Group, presented a playbook to build effective advocacy campaigns and influence public will. PHFC members successfully synthesized the conference to create PHFC's agenda for 2020, which includes a focus on: modernizing the WIC program and creating a network of comprehensive services; strengthening the adequacy of the mental health network and workforce through parity; and pursuing innovative ways to finance housing.