A philanthropy tackles growth in health costs at the state level

Slowing the rate of growth of health spending is as critical a goal at the state level as it is at the national level. Philanthropy can hardly address this issue alone, yet it has an obligation to take on big and seemingly intractable problems. The New York State Health Foundation is committed to stimulating innovative and replicable approaches to bending the cost curve. This article describes how the foundation recently awarded six grants to support efforts related to payment reform, hospital readmissions, medical malpractice reform, palliative care, and the quantification of other cost containment approaches that could be pursued at the state level.