The Commonwealth Fund's 2011 Annual Report is now available on commonwealthfund.org. In her "President's Message," Karen Davis, Ph.D., describes the work undertaken by the foundation to clarify the implications of the Affordable Care Act, bring expertise to bear on its implementation, and help health care organizations respond to opportunities embodied in the legislation. In regard to the latter, Davis writes, "The Commonwealth Fund aims to assist leaders in health care delivery that are seeking to join the vanguard of early innovators."
In his essay, executive vice president and COO John E. Craig, M.P.A., reports on a review of the Fund's Harkness Fellowships in Health Care Policy and Practice, which are open to midcareer health services researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and managers from nine countries. Harkness Fellows spend a year in the U.S. conducting original research and working with leading health policy experts. Among other findings, the review concluded that other U.S. foundations could benefit from this kind of engagement, which highlights successful international models and produces comparisons to inform research and policy debates.