The Fund supports networks of state health policy decision makers to help identify, inspire, and inform policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund supports two state leadership programs for legislative and executive branch state government officials committed to improving population health.
The Fund identifies and shares policy ideas and analysis to advance state health leadership, strong primary care, and sustainable health care costs.
Keep up with news and updates from the Milbank Memorial Fund. And read the latest blogs from our thought leaders, including Fund President Christopher F. Koller.
The Fund publishes The Milbank Quarterly, as well as reports, issues briefs, and case studies on topics important to health policy leaders.
The Milbank Memorial Fund is is a foundation that works to improve population health and health equity.
Child Health Public Health
September 2025 Louisiana M. Sanchez, Junhan Cho, Alyssa F. Harlow, Richard A. Miech, Steven Sussman, Hongying D. Dai, Abigail Adjei, Dae-Hee Han, Ming Li, Leah Meza, Adam M. Leventhal, Dayoung Bae,
The specific nontobacco e-cigarette flavors used by US youth who exclusively vape e-cigarettes compared with youth who engage in poly-tobacco or poly-substance use can help identify the populations most likely to be impacted by e-cigarette flavor policies. More
Population Health Social determinants of health
September 2025 Michael J. Yedidia, Joel C. Cantor,
Cross-sector collaborations among health care and housing services organizations promise more efficient use of resources and delivery of more coherent and effective services to people experiencing homelessness (PEH). More
Behavioral Health Opioid Use Disorder
September 2025 Beth McGinty, Pradhyumna Wagle, Christie Lee Luo, Nicholas J. Seewald, Elizabeth A. Stuart, Kayla N. Tormohlen,
State medical cannabis laws, currently in place in 39 states and Washington, DC, provide an avenue for therapeutic use of cannabis to manage chronic noncancer pain stemming from conditions such as arthritis and low back pain. These laws may also influence cannabis and opioid addiction and overdose, for example, if people substitute cannabis in place of opioids to manage pain. No studies, to our knowledge, have examined how state medical cannabis laws influence health care use related to addiction to or overdose from cannabis or opioids among people with chronic noncancer pain. More
September 2025
The Milbank Quarterly was pleased to present its Early Career Award in Population Health to Lauren Gaydosh, PhD, an Associate Professor of Sociology and faculty fellow at the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, at the 2025 Interdisciplinary Association for Population Health Science (IAPHS) Conference in September. More
Issue Brief Health Care Affordability
September 2025 Nathan Hostert, Andrew M. Ryan,
A recent study finds that Rhode Island’s affordability standards, which apply only to the fully insured market, have led to a 9% relative reduction in hospital prices across the entire commercial market. More
State Health Policy Leadership
September 2025 Amanda Spishak-Thomas, Allison Oh,
As of 2023, nearly 3 million children in the United States remained uninsured, largely due to immigration-related exclusions in public insurance programs like Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). In response, state policymakers have sought ways to close the gap on children’s coverage. More
Milbank State Leadership Network State Health Policy Leadership
September 2025 Michael Meit, Nicholas E. Hagemeier, Andrew Koricich,
As state policymakers apply for the OBBBA’s Rural Health Transformation funding, they have a significant opportunity to partner with their RPCUs to address the research, and especially, the workforce training needs of their rural communities. More
September 2025 Morgan McDonald,
The National Conference of State Legislators Summit’s opening sessions, which featured former Congresswoman Gabrielle Gifford and a tribute to slain Minnesota Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman, zeroed in on the need for depolarization in state houses and beyond. More
Health Care Affordability
The third annual analysis of spending growth trends across cost growth target states finds all five exceeded their targets. More
Primary Care Transformation
September 2025 Christopher F. Koller,
The Trump administration released a draft Medicare rule this summer that might have been missed amid HR1’s large funding cuts to Medicaid and the health insurance marketplaces. But the administration’s proposed changes to the 2026 Medicare Physician Fee schedule are an important step toward strengthening primary care — and following through on its commitment to “Make America Healthy Again.” More
