The Commonwealth Fund's Vulnerable Populations Program
<p>Vulnerable populations, including low-income people, the uninsured, and disadvantaged racial and ethnic minorities, have more difficulty obtaining health care, receive worse care, and experience poorer health outcomes than other groups in the United States. To help ensure these populations have access to health care capable of meeting their particular needs, The Commonwealth Fund has created the Program on Vulnerable Populations. </p><p>In a <a href="/blog/2012/achieving-equity-health-system-commonwealth-funds-vulnerable-populations-program">new blog post</a>, Vulnerable Populations program officer Pamela Riley, M.D., M.P.H., and program associate Cara Dermody describe this grantmaking program and the newly renamed Mongan Commonwealth Fund Fellowship Program (formerly The Commonwealth Fund/Harvard University Fellowship in Minority Health Policy), which is designed for physicians interested in improving health care systems for vulnerable populations. The fellowship was named in memory of James J. Mongan, M.D., a member of The Commonwealth Fund's board of directors and chairman of its Commission on a High Performance Health System. </p>
<p>Among other projects, the grantmaking program supports work to identify care delivery models that provide comprehensive, coordinated, and efficient health services meeting the needs of vulnerable populations. Under the direction of Valerie Lewis, Ph.D., for example, Commonwealth Fund–supported researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice are examining the extent to which accountable care organizations are forming in vulnerable communities and what kind of impact they will have. </p>
<p>Visit <a href="~/link.aspx?_id=0B67ACA7A5CB453CB876F3DB59E19448&_z=z">The Commonwealth Fund Blog</a> for a complete description of the program and its activities. </p>
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