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Julie Johnson
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Missouri Foundation for Health Tops $200 Million in Grantmaking


St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 29 -In just five years of grantmaking, the Missouri Foundation for Health (MFH) has surpassed the $200 million mark in funding. By the end of 2006, MFH has funded 976 grants totaling $207.6 million to nonprofit organizations in Missouri.

Created in 2000 from the conversion of Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Missouri, MFH began making grants in 2002. MFH is the largest non-governmental funder of community health activities in Missouri and is dedicated to serving the uninsured, the underinsured and the underserved in its service area. That area includes 84 Missouri counties and the City of St. Louis. It does not include the Kansas City area and northwest Missouri. MFH's current assets stand at $1.3 billion, making it the 3rd largest health care foundation in the U.S. and the 2nd largest health care conversion foundation in the U.S.

"We are very pleased with the impact MFH has made in just five years of grantmaking," says Dr. James R. Kimmey, MFH's president and CEO. "We see on an almost daily basis how the organizations that we support are impacting the communities they serve, by helping Missourians to live healthier and by working to ensure our residents have access to needed health care."

MFH provides funding in several critical health care areas. Its three long-term funding efforts are: Tobacco Prevention and Cessation Initiative, a nine-year, $40 million funding effort to reduce the use of tobacco products through regional and community efforts; Healthy & Active Communities Initiative, a multi-year funding effort to address the prevalence of obesity in Missouri and to encourage healthy eating and lifestyles; and Primary Care Access Initiative, a new funding effort launched in 2006 that focuses on strengthening the health care safety net and improving access to health care in rural Missouri.

MFH targets other specific health care issues through its Priority Area Grant (PAG) effort. Current funding supports programs that provide dental sealants for children through the Smiles Across Missouri PAG, improved chronic care management through the Better Self-Management of Diabetes PAG, and integrated mental health and substance abuse services through the Co-Occurring Disorders PAG. Additionally, MFH funds critical operating expenses of small and medium-sized health organizations through its Basic Support program.

MFH also has established itself as the leading source of non-partisan health policy studies in Missouri, and funds a wide variety of health care advocacy efforts. MFH also has provided emergency support to Missouri organizations impacted by natural disasters, including a Hurricane Katrina relief effort and assistance following tornadoes in southeast Missouri.

In January 2007, MFH announced its largest single grant - $11 million to provide the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine for 30,000 girls and women this year in Missouri. The grant represents the largest non-governmental funding of the vaccine's distribution in the United States, and the most comprehensive effort in any state to ensure all who can benefit from the vaccine receive it.

By area of the state, MFH's funding has been distributed as follows:
Bootheel (10 southeast counties): 79 grants, totaling $14 million
Central (11 central counties): 134 grants, totaling $39 million
Lake Ozark (9 mid-Missouri counties): 27 grants, totaling $6.2 million
Lower East (9 lower eastern counties): 58 grants, totaling $11.7 million
North Central (4 north central counties): 12 grants, totaling $1.5 million
Northeast (12 northeast counties): 45 grants, totaling $9.6 million
St. Louis Metropolitan (6 counties & City of St. Louis): 538 grants, totaling $99.8 million
South Central (7 south central counties): 19 grants, totaling $4 million
Southwest (8 far southwest counties): 36 grants, totaling $7.2 million
Springfield (8 mid-southwest counties): 68 grants, totaling $12.7 million

For more information about MFH, its funding strategies and its health policy efforts and publications, visit the website at www.mffh.org.

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