Vote for the Most Influential Research in Childhood Obesity

It has been two years since the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced it would award $500 million in grants to reverse the childhood obesity epidemic by 2015. To accomplish our goal, we are building the evidence about the problem and what interventions work, as well as turning the evidence into action.

After conducting a thorough literature search and consulting with experts, RWJF selected 20 recently published articles on the childhood obesity problem that we believe have strong potential to influence the field. Some of these articles were funded by the Foundation and some were funded by other organizations. Now, we want to know what you think. Visit our Web site and vote for the five articles you consider to have the greatest potential to impact policy and advance the knowledge base for obesity prevention. Voting ends July 10. We will publish the results later that month.

Consumer Confidence in Health Care Drops 1.3 Points in May

As lawmakers discuss comprehensive health reform legislation amid the backdrop of a struggling national economy, RWJF released the first-ever monthly measure of consumer confidence in American health care. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Health Care Consumer Confidence Index (RWJF Index) is conducted by the same researchers who oversee the well-known monthly consumer confidence index, reported each month since the 1940s.

The survey found that Americans’ confidence in their health insurance coverage and access to health care fell 1.3 points last month to 98.7, down from its baseline of 100. The survey also shows that an overwhelming 86 percent of Americans believe health reform is an important part of addressing the nation’s economic crisis.

President Barack Obama Gives FDA Tobacco Authority

President Obama signed historic legislation this month granting the Food and Drug Administration sweeping authority to regulate the manufacturing, marketing and sale of tobacco products. The Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act represents the strongest action the U.S. has ever taken to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States The Congressional Budget Office estimates that youth smoking will drop 11 percent over the next decade and adult smoking will drop by 2 percent.

Former Senate Majority Leaders Daschle, Dole and Baker Promote Bipartisan Health Care Plan

Former U.S. Senate Majority Leaders Howard Baker, Tom Daschle and Bob Dole—members of the Bipartisan Policy Center’s Advisory Board—released a bipartisan, budget-neutral framework for comprehensive health reform. The Leaders’ Project on the State of American Health Care report aims to provide quality, affordable health coverage for all Americans and includes recommendations to improve quality and controls costs.

Poll: Prevention Top Health Reform Priority for Americans

RWJF and Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) released a new public opinion survey which finds that Americans rank prevention as the most important health care reform priority, and overwhelmingly support increasing funding for prevention programs to reduce disease and keep people healthy.

More than three quarters (76%) of Americans believe the level of funding for prevention should be increased. Strikingly, while a vast majority believes that prevention will save money, more than seven in 10 support an investment in prevention regardless of whether it will save money.

All Roads Lead To Payment: Squeezing Value from Health Reform

A variety of solutions are being discussed to correct widespread deficiencies and increase value in our health care system. RWJF and experts in the field of health care payment came together to discuss these ideas during a luncheon briefing on June 10, 2009, in Washington, D.C. In this webcast of the event, guest speakers provide an overview of the various payment models currently being discussed—identifying what they have in common and what separates them. Representatives from the PROMETHEUS Payment® project and its Rockford, Ill., pilot site report on how their project to reward high-quality, consumer-driven care allows providers who do the right things for patients to also do well financially.

Ten Lessons from the Pandemic Flu Frontlines

RWJF, TFAH and the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center have released a new report—The Pandemic Flu: Lessons from the Frontlines. The report looks at 10 early lessons of the recent outbreak, and 10 core ongoing gaps in preparedness that must be addressed to strengthen U.S. preparedness for future health emergencies.

Moving PHRs from Static Repositories of Information to Dynamic, Interactive Applications

This report from RWJF Pioneer Portfolio grantee Project Heath Design captures key learnings from the work of the program’s first nine grantee teams, as well as from its efforts to develop a common platform and explore the ethical, legal and social issues tied to next-generation personal health records (PHRs).