Several of The Commonwealth Fund’s research programs work on health reform policy options at the federal, state, and local levels. Together, these programs foster the identification, development, evaluation, and dissemination of policy solutions that have the potential to expand Americans’ access to affordable, high-quality, efficient health care, while also reducing growth in health spending. In much of this work, there is particular emphasis placed on vulnerable populations, including people with low income and members of racial and ethnic minorities.

Commonwealth Fund programs that collaborate in this work include:

Affordable Health Insurance 
Payment and System Reform
Federal Health Policy, including the Commission on a High Performance Health System 
State Health Policy and Practices

Health Reform Policy projects undertaken by the Fund and its grantees focus on developing ways to:

• ensure that individuals, families, and employers have access to comprehensive, affordable health insurance coverage;
• foster the spread of high-performing accountable and coordinated health systems;
• ensure the sustainability of effective and efficient safety-net health systems;
• support the development and assessment of pilots and demonstrations of health care payment innovations, with a priority on multipayer initiatives and efforts to align private and public payment; and
• slow the growth of health care costs.

The Fund’s work on Health Reform Policy is closely coordinated with Fund initiatives in Delivery System Innovation and Improvement, International Health Policy and Innovation, and Health System Performance Assessment and Tracking.