Our Impact

Community Benefit & Economic Stability Project — Community Health Needs Assessment federal regulations require hospitals to address disparities in health care, a key issue Community Catalyst pushed for in comments throughout the rule-making process. The regulations also acknowledge the impact of medical debt on community health, a connection Community Catalyst emphasized in comments.

Social Determinants of Health — We worked with local community groups who trained nearly 1,000 community residents in Minneapolis, Portland, and the Bronx to serve as community advisors for hospital community health needs assessments, and to urge hospital investments in community-prioritized projects such as multi-use affordable housing.

Women's Health Program — The women’s health team has worked with allies to achieve robust implementation of the Affordable Care Act, which has had a powerful impact on improving women’s health coverage. Since the ACA’s passage, the proportion of adult women who are uninsured has decreased by nearly half, from 18.9 percent in 2012 to 9.5 percent in 2016. An estimated 53 million women now have contraceptive coverage without co-pays. Other policy wins for women have included guaranteed maternity coverage, protections against being charged more than men for the same policy and prohibitions on denying coverage for “pre-existing conditions,” such as having had a Cesarean section delivery or having been a victim of sexual assault. The Women’s Health Program team is now working to achieve state-level protections of these wins, as federal efforts to undermine the ACA continue.

Prescription Drugs — Community Catalyst has published six toolkits designed to assist university leaders, faculty, staff and medical students in successfully adopting and improving policies to address conflicts of interest and to promote transparent interactions with the pharmaceutical and device industries.

Protect Our Care — More than 3,500 Mainers have written to Senator Collins to ask her to protect their health care. Twenty-five letters to the editor have been published across the state, with another 20 letters submitted and ready for publication. Maine People’s Alliance’s field and phone canvasses reached thousands of Mainers directly, urging them to take action and resulting in more than 400 calls to Collins’ office so far.

Medicaid and Medicaid Expansion — Community Catalyst works with advocates in states that need to close the Medicaid coverage gap. With our support, advocates in Pennsylvania, Montana, Alaska and Louisiana have successfully closed the gap, bringing health and economic security to over one million low-income uninsured adults and cutting the number of uninsured adults in the coverage gap by 25 percent nationwide.

Health System Transformation — Community Catalyst has been awarded a five-year $14.8 million legacy grant by The Atlantic Philanthropies to develop and promote a consumer agenda around “health system transformation,” fundamental changes reshaping health care delivery in America.

Children's Health Initiative — The children’s health team at Community Catalyst worked with advocates in Arizona to successfully re-instate KidsCare, the state’s CHIP program that had been inactive for six years. With our strategic campaign and coalition support, advocates were able to pass a bill re-activating KidsCare, which was signed into law in May of 2016. Arizona had been the only state in the country without an active CHIP program, and the re-instatement of KidsCare extended eligibility to more than 30,000 children from low-income families.

Southern Health Partners — Community Catalyst increased philanthropic investment in Southern states in 2014, directing new funding to Southern states for campaigns to close coverage gaps, to help connect consumers with the coverage they need and to help consumers navigate their new coverage. Despite challenging political environments and sparse support from their states, advocates in our 12 Southern Health Partners states have helped 3.5 million Americans enroll in coverage and provided peace of mind to countless families.

Substance Use Disorders — We are boosting a national movement to help young people stay on a healthy path by expanding access to alcohol and drug prevention and counseling. Our new multimillion-dollar initiative is engaging advocates in five states and generating media coverage that is bringing more people-power to the movement.

Substance Use Disorders — Advocates from 16 states working to expand prevention, coverage, treatment and recovery from alcohol and drug problems recharged their batteries, learned from national experts and forged new cross-state bonds at our second annual Substance Use Disorders Advocacy Convening.

Substance Use Disorders —

Initial Findings: Peers Speak Out! Improving Substance Use Treatment Outcomes During COVID-19. This fall, peers/patients spoke out through a national online survey, two focus groups and the Patients Lead National Peer Council about what outcomes they want from treatment, how COVID-19 is affecting them and what needs to change about treatment/services.

Two Page Summary Full Report

Dental Access Project — In 2016, with support from the Dental Access Project, consumer health advocates in Vermont successfully won passage of legislation authorizing dental therapy into law, increasing access to dental care for all residents in Vermont. [Pictured Above]

Non-Profit Conversions and Health Philanthropy — Partnered with advocates to stop for-profit conversions of BlueCross BlueShield in Kansas, Maryland and Ohio and protect consumers from rate increases and bad insurance practices

Affordable Care Act — Over 2,600 calls have been placed to Senator Alexander’s office since the beginning of January, and 450 handwritten letters have been sent to Senators Alexander and Corker so far. The Tennessee Justice Center and their partners have organized dozens of constituents to meet with staff in the Senators’ district offices.

Children's Health Initiative — NEACH worked with Rhode Island advocates to win the inclusion of pediatric dental benefits in plans on the state’s Marketplace. The pediatric dental premiums must meet a medical loss ratio – most of the premium must go to patient care versus company administration, salaries and profits – which goes beyond ACA requirements.

Prescription Access Litigation — Successful litigation in 12 class action lawsuits led by PAL coalition members have won more than $1.3 billion from the drug industry, funding 22 settlements for consumers, health plans and pro-consumer class action law firms.

Roadmaps to Health Community Grants — Roadmaps' grantee The Community Service Society of New York succeeded in its campaign to pass paid sick days legislation in New York City. In late June, despite the Mayor’s veto, the City Council overrode the Mayor’s veto by a vote of 47 to 4, making paid sick days law.

State Consumer Health Advocacy — We debunked widely reported threats of increased premium rates (‘rate shock’) by drafting an issue brief and hosting a conference call to clarify misconceptions about rate increases. A number of states used this information to provide correct information and dispel concerns about increased rates in press interviews.

State Consumer Health Advocacy — We provided extensive support to Minnesota advocates in their successful campaign to introduce a Basic Health Plan option – more affordable coverage for people who don’t qualify for Medicaid – in 2015. This is a win for low-income Minnesotans, and an important step toward promoting Basic Health Plan in states across the country.