The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released a Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) for round two of the Health Care Innovation Awards, granting up to $1 billion for testing new health care improvement initiatives. Of the four eligible program areas, one could be applicable directly to the public health work happening at your agency right now. The Public Health Foundation (PHF) wants to make sure you are aware of this real, timely opportunity to improve health in your community.

With public health explicitly recognized as a priority under the Affordable Care Act, CMS is including public health pillars like prevention, wellness, comprehensive care, and population health as priority areas in this far-reaching funding opportunity. CMS welcomes and encourages applicants with public health partnerships to respond to this FOA. This opens a door for public health and health care organizations to collaborate in the interest of improving quality of care and efficient service delivery.

As a strong proponent of collaboration and partnerships at the crossroads of public health and health care to advance population health, PHF encourages health departments and programs that collaborate with the health care sector to consider whether this funding may be a possible fit for you.

For those who may be interested, Letters of Intent are due to CMS by Friday, June 28 at 3:00 PM ET. For more information, view the full FOA from CMS, and contact Micaela Cohen, Project Manager for Performance Management and Quality Improvement at mcohen@phf.org to discuss and explore how this FOA opportunity might apply to you.