Sept 15, 2020

Contact: Lance Teegarden
lteegarden@petersonhealthcare.org

$2.7M Grant to Milbank Memorial Fund Will Support Up to Five States in Setting and Achieving Growth Targets, Building on Proven Models

NEW YORK (September 15, 2020) — The Peterson Center on Healthcare announced a new $2.7 million grant to the Milbank Memorial Fund to support efforts to set and track healthcare spending targets at the state level. The grant will fund work in up to five states, building upon similar successful efforts in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Delaware and Oregon.

By increasing state capacity and capability in data and technology, the Peterson-Milbank Program for Sustainable Health Care Costs will help participating states identify, establish and monitor key healthcare spending trends, and track them against agreed-upon targets. The work will build upon earlier efforts supported by the Center, and benefit from cross-state collaboration and learning among state officials and stakeholders.

“The many effects of the COVID-19 pandemic will significantly increase pressure on state budgets throughout the country,” said Jay Want, Executive Director of the Peterson Center on Healthcare. “And even before the pandemic, patients weren’t getting the full value out of American healthcare that we should. The Peterson Center on Healthcare is excited to continue its work within the states, bringing a broad cross-section of healthcare stakeholders to the table to address our nation’s rapidly growing healthcare costs. Healthcare spending growth crowds out states’ other priorities, leaving fewer resources available for other important priorities and services, including those that may support better general health.”

State efforts to control healthcare spending have typically focused narrowly on addressing costs for specific payers or providers. However, to meaningfully reduce spending and beneficiary costs, there are emerging examples of states taking a more comprehensive approach focused on overall, statewide spending growth levels. One example is Rhode Island, where the Center has worked in partnership with the state and Brown University to study healthcare cost trends to improve how care is delivered.

To support these statewide efforts, the grant to the Milbank Memorial Fund provides working capital and technical assistance for innovative partnerships that manage real-world fiscal problems. The technical assistance, to be provided by the Milbank Memorial Fund and Bailit Health, includes experts who will collaborate with each participating state to develop and implement a work plan, facilitate stakeholder convenings and share experiences across states. While the grant supports up to five states, the work will inform progress nationwide by developing implementation materials that all states can use to guide their cost growth initiatives.

This project is part of the Center’s transparency initiative, which focuses on increasing access to actionable and timely data to inform healthcare decisions and combine healthcare performance analysis with action-oriented stakeholder engagement.

For more information about the Peterson Center on Healthcare, visit petersonhealthcare.org.

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About the Peterson Center on Healthcare
The Peterson Center on Healthcare is a non-profit organization dedicated to making higher quality, more affordable healthcare a reality for all Americans. The organization is working to transform U.S. healthcare into a high-performance system by finding innovative solutions that improve quality and lower costs, and accelerating their adoption on a national scale. Established by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the Center collaborates with stakeholders across the healthcare system and engages in grant-making, partnerships, and research.