The Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, a unit of the Heller School for Social Policy and Management, has received a $20,000 grant from the Tufts Health Plan Foundation, according to a Nov. 29 article in The Boston Globe.
 
The grant money is to be used for holding forums to discuss research into the improvement of Massachusetts' health care system, though there is no further stipulation on how the grant will be spent.
 
The Tufts Health Plan Foundation's focus is on improving health care for senior citizens. Its annual report states that "the foundation's focus is healthy aging — improving the lives of adults 60 and older."
 
The Tufts Health Plan Foundation gave out $2.3 million in grants in 2010, according to its annual report.
 
Prof. Stuart H. Altman (Heller), a member of the Forum's board of directors, said that the Tufts Health Plan Foundation has "been very supportive. They're particularly interested in focusing on aging and activities that can improve the life of seniors in the community and alike. They've been a big help to the Forum."
 
Anne Marie Boursiquot King, the director of grants and policy at the Tufts Health Plan Foundation, said in an interview with the Justice, "The Massachusetts Health Policy Forum is considered to have the expertise and capacity to help with [our] type of work." She added that the two organizations have been working together "for the last couple of years."
 
The Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, according to its online mission statement, "is a non-profit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving the health care system in the Commonwealth by convening forums and presenting the highest quality research to legislators, stakeholders and the public." It was founded in 1998. 
 
—Jonathan Epstein