To accomplish this mission, we focus on the following four priorities:

1. Promoting & Improving Community Health
2. Expanding Access to Quality Health Care
3. Developing the Future Health Workforce
4. Improving Health Care Quality and Assessing its Performance

Learn more about some of the important programs and partners United Health Foundation supports.

America’s Health Rankings^TM
America’s Health Rankings, the longest running report of its kind, provides an annual analysis of national health on a state-by-state basis and ranking of the healthiest and least healthy states. The 2008 Rankings reveal the overall health of the U.S. population has not improved for the fourth year in a row.

Learn more about America’s Health Rankings.

AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project
The AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project is an innovative, research-backed pilot project designed to improve the health and projected life expectancy of people of all ages who live and work in Albert Lea, Minnesota.

Learn more about the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project.

Five Wishes
Five Wishes is an advance directive that helps people make important end-of-life-care decisions that address their medical, personal, emotional and spiritual needs before a health crisis.  Through our support, Aging with Dignity has been able to provide this important resource in 23 languages.

Learn more about Five Wishes.

Investing in A Tobacco-Free Future
Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. A new toolkit, entitled "Investing in A Tobacco-Free Future: How it Benefits Your Bottom Line & Community," produced by Partnership for Prevention and the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, shows how businesses can lower their costs by reducing the use of tobacco in the workplace through employees' personal behavior change, health benefit design and sensible workplace policies.

Learn more about the toolkit.
Download the toolkit.

Health Literacy in the 21^st Century
United Health Foundation recently partnered with the National Education Association Health Information Network to host a meeting to discuss the K-12 educational infrastructure needed to prepare current and future students to participate in the 21^st Century’s health and health care systems.

Download the meeting proceedings.
Download the meeting white papers: Role of 21st Century Schools in Promoting Health Literacy, Consumers in a Complex and Dynamic Health Care Environment, and Health Literacy and Adolescents: An Agenda for the Future.

Curbing Childhood Obesity
One-third of American children are considered overweight or obese. More than half have at least one cardiovascular risk factor, and childhood obesity often leads to adult obesity, causing continued health issues.

With the support of the United Health Foundation, The Urban Design Lab at the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Collaborative Initiatives at Massachusetts Institute of Technology have joined together to develop innovative and comprehensive strategies for addressing childhood obesity.

Download a copy of Curbing Childhood Obesity.

Community Health Centers of Excellence
United Health Foundation helps community health centers in four of the poorest communities in the United States increase access to and, most importantly, improve the quality of health care. The Community Health Centers of Excellence initiative partners with established community clinics working to address major health care concerns.

Learn more about our Community Health Centers of Excellence.

Faces of Hope
In partnership with the National Association of Community Health Centers, the United Health Foundation introduced “Faces of Hope,” an initiative to highlight the positive impact community health centers make on the communities they serve, underscore the continued need for these centers to grow and thrive, and encourage expanded support for them.  Faces of Hope: Celebrating Community Health Centers features images by acclaimed photographer, Joseph Rodriguez, and brings to life the extraordinary contributions of the people who make health centers possible.  

Learn more about Faces of Hope.

Diverse Scholars Initiative
The goal of our Diverse Scholars Initiative is to increase the number of qualified, yet underrepresented, college graduates entering the health workforce.  By cultivating health professionals from diverse, multicultural backgrounds, the Foundation hopes to help improve the quality of culturally-competent health care, close the health disparities gap and improve health outcomes long term. 

Learn more about our Diverse Scholars Initiative.

 
Advancing Clinical Excellence
United Health Foundation supports the valuable role medical specialty societies play in improving the quality of clinical care delivery in America.  Through Advancing Clinical Excellence, the Foundation provides support to medical specialty societies for the purpose of assisting them in improving clinical care based on best scientific evidence.  Some of our partners include the American College of Cardiology Foundation, the American College of Radiology, the American Gastroenterological Association Institute and the American Medical Association Foundation.

Dartmouth Atlas Project
The Dartmouth Atlas Project documents variations in how medical resources are distributed and used in the United States. The project uses Medicare data to provide comprehensive information and analysis about national, regional, and local markets, as well as individual hospitals and their affiliated physicians. 

Learn more about the Dartmouth Atlas Project.

Research!America
United Health Foundation supports Research!America's mission to make research for health a much higher national priority and as a challenge to others to support this mission.  Our grant will strengthen Research!America's work to inform policymakers, opinion leaders, news media and the public about the importance of investing in medical and health research. Research creates high-paying jobs, helps the U.S. remain competitive, and helps Americans live longer, healthier lives. 

 Learn more about Research!America.