Founded 1996 | Website www.chcf.org Number of employees 50 | |
 | ||
Focus Improving access to coverage and care for low-income Californians, ensuring high-value care, and informing decisionmakers Area served Improving health care in California Method Grants to conduct research and analysis and program-related investments Key people Dr. Sandra R. Hernández, President and CEO Similar Kaiser Family Foundation, David and Lucile Packard, The Kresge Foundation, Blue Shield of California, James Irvine Foundation Profiles | ||
Based in Oakland, California, the California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) is an independent, nonprofit philanthropy that primarily focuses on improving access to coverage and care for low-income Californians, ensuring high-value care, and informing decisionmakers.
Contents
Established in 1996, CHCF operates with an endowment of more than $750 million in assets and has paid out more than $500 million to support its programmatic work.
Inception
The California Health Care Foundation was one of two philanthropies created in 1996 as a result of Blue Cross of California’s conversion from a nonprofit health plan to the for-profit corporation WellPoint Health Networks. CHCF’s first responsibility was managing the sale of WellPoint Health Networks stock. Of the $3 billion yielded from this process, four-fifths of the proceeds went to create The California Endowment and the remainder, some $600 million at the time, stayed with CHCF. From its inception, CHCF has looked for opportunities to improve health care in California by supporting higher quality, greater efficiency, and broader access to care.
Leadership
Dr. Sandra R. Hernández became president and CEO of the California Health Care Foundation in January 2014. Prior to joining CHCF, Hernández was CEO of The San Francisco Foundation, which she led for 16 years. She previously served as director of public health for the City and County of San Francisco.
Hernández is an assistant clinical professor at the University of California, San Francisco, School of Medicine and maintains a clinical practice at San Francisco General Hospital in the AIDS clinic. She is a graduate of Yale University and the Tufts University School of Medicine.
Previously, the foundation had been led for 18 years by founding president and CEO Mark D. Smith, MD, MBA, a board-certified internist and clinical faculty member at the University of California, San Francisco.
Initiatives
Signature initiatives of the foundation are:
The CHCF Health Care Leadership Program, which develops clinicians into effective leaders.
The California Improvement Network, which provides quality improvement training and networking opportunities to frontline providers.
The CHCF Health Innovation Fund, which provides program-related investments to companies that are developing low-cost solutions to improve care in the safety net.
The State Health Policy Office, which provides policymakers and other stakeholders with data and information, as well as opportunities to convene with colleagues to discuss issues related to the financing and delivery of health care in California.
Publications
CHCF commissions and publishes dozens of reports each year. A selection includes:
Websites
In addition to the publications and resources offered at its main site, the foundation offers these services: