Hogg Foundation for Mental Health

Foundations Urge Policy Makers to Consider Behavioral Health Reforms

January 1, 2010

The Hogg Foundation is among more than a dozen major foundations across the United States to sign a position statement urging federal policymakers to address mental health and substance use issues in their efforts to reform the nation's health care system.

Behavioral health is essential to overall health and wellness and should be an integral part of national health care reform.

The statement identifies six critical policy areas where change can improve efficiency and effectiveness of behavioral health services: integrated health care, community-based services, parity, prevention and early intervention, workforce development and health information technology.

Each policy area is discussed in detail in the position statement. A list of signatories is also online.

As of mid January, 13 funders in 10 states – Arizona, Connecticut, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio and Texas – had signed the statement. Many have funded national, state and local programs and projects that demonstrate how the six policy areas identified in the statement can benefit health care.

Dr. Lynda Frost, director of planning and programs at the Hogg Foundation, drafted the statement and coordinated with other health care foundations and members of the Grantmakers In Health Behavioral Health Funders Network to distribute the statement and collect signatures.

Membership in the network is not required to sign the statement and all interested foundations are invited to participate. For more information or to sign the statement, contact Frost at lynda.frost@austin.utexas.edu or (512) 471-9150.