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In 2001, Harris Interactive, Inc., conducted a confidential survey of all major grantees of the Fund over a seven-year period to ascertain whether they regard the foundation as adding value to their work. As described in last year's annual report, the response of grantees was highly confirmatory: 79 percent of respondents believed that the foundation's support helped to focus their work on well-targeted, timely contributions to the health policy debate or service improvements, and 65 percent said that their projects were strengthened by the foundation's staff in the proposal development and vetting stage.
With respect to publication and dissemination of results, 71 percent of respondents cited important contributions by Fund staff in clarifying their overall message and findings, and 62 percent said they had been assisted by Fund staff in drawing out policy and practice implications. According to grantees, a major value-added function of Fund staff is synthesizing project results and translating research findings for policy-making audiences: 89 percent of grantees rated the Fund highly in that regard. A large majority (79 percent) of project directors reported that the Fund's internal research and professional capacity strengthens the foundation's contribution to their work, and 88 percent said the quality of work produced by the Fund's research unit is high.
This year, Harris Interactive pursued the analysis further by conducting an anonymous survey of Commonwealth Fund audiences. The 7,200 people surveyed were those who regularly receive e-mail alerts announcing Fund publications and events, including government officials and staff (U.S. federal and state, as well as international officials familiar with the Fund's work through its international program); policy analysts, research consultants, lobbyists, consumer advocates, and private sector executives and other leaders who engage in the policy process; private sector health care leaders, including heads of hospitals, health systems, group practices, nursing homes, health plans, and purchasers; journalists; academic researchers and students; and foundation executives and program officers. The response rate for the 20-minute e-mail survey was 20 percent, which is regarded as high for this type of survey. Survey respondents were broadly representative of the Fund's target audiences.
The Fund's 2003 audience survey provided further evidence that the foundation is fulfilling its value-added mission:
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92 percent of respondents said that the Fund is working on the right issues most of the time |
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94 percent said that the foundation is providing unique information, not available elsewhere, on health policy and service delivery issues |
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95 percent said it is delivering timely new information
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97 percent rated the quality of research in Fund publications as "good" to "excellent," and none gave it a "poor" rating
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97 percent said that the Fund provides credible and reliable information on health care policy and service delivery issues
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81 percent rated Fund publications as valuable to their work, and 80 percent gave a similar rating to the Fund's website
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93 percent gave high marks to the Fund's work in stimulating and contributing to solutions for problems of health coverage, access, and financing
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90 percent approved of the foundation's work to promote constructive action on health care service delivery issues
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84 percent said that the Fund is quite effective in reaching policymakers and health care leaders
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100 percent of responding journalists rated the quality of the Fund's work, its publications, and its surveys and chartbooks as high, and 90 percent said that the foundation's website is helpful to their work
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Respondents said that Fund reports are as reliable and credible as those of the Institute of Medicine, the General Accounting Office, and the Urban Institute, and that they seek out the Fund's publications and visit its website more often than they do those of other health policy and research organizations. Survey responses show that the Fund is reaching not only officials from all branches of the federal government but also state government officials, and that its work is highly valued at all levels of government. The Fund is also valued as a key information resource by minority groups, particularly by black leaders.
The 2003 survey of Fund audiences provides convincing evidence that the foundation's program and communications strategies are sound and that — particularly for its modest size — the foundation is having an impact in improving health care policy and practice.
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