News Releases

The Center Creates Grant-Making Arm after Donation from CHAMPS Healthcare

For many years, CHAMPS Healthcare, the business affiliate of The Center for Health Affairs, has used a portion of its revenues to help support the nonprofit work of the association. Thanks to a substantial donation from CHAMPS Healthcare in fourth quarter 2013, The Center for Health Affairs is poised to open the door on a new era of increased support to benefit the health of Northeast Ohioans through the establishment of a new grant-making arm.

Grants through The Center for Health Affairs Foundation for Health Excellence will make funds available to health-related projects aimed at improving healthcare access and quality and eliminating disparities in Northeast Ohio. Though projects may take a variety of forms, data from the county-by-county health needs assessments coordinated by The Center for Health Affairs during the past few years, will provide guidance to the organization on just where its dollars may make the most significant impact.

“We will be seeking out projects that will make a real difference and improve people’s lives from a health perspective,” said Bill Ryan, president and CEO of The Center for Health Affairs and CHAMPS Healthcare, when asked about the new foundation established in response to the donation from CHAMPS Healthcare. “We’re proud to provide funding that will bring organizations together to develop community strategies around areas of mutual concern. The projects we fund will have measurable, tangible results.”

The formal process of transferring assets from CHAMPS Healthcare to The Center for Health Affairs Foundation for Health Excellence is already underway and will continue over the next few years with the expectation that the grant-making entity will be fully funded in 2-3 years. The dollars will be placed into a donor-advised fund — an individual charitable giving account administered by a community foundation — through the Community West Foundation.

Though grant-making will be slow until it is fully funded, The Center for Health Affairs Foundation for Health Excellence will kick off its grant-making activities in 2014 by contributing to the purchase of land needed to establish a Fisher House at the Louis Stokes VA Hospital in Cleveland. A Fisher House is similar to a Ronald McDonald House but is for military family members who need a place to stay free-of-charge while their injured or ill loved one receives treatment, procedures, operations or rehabilitation.

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Located in Cleveland, Ohio, CHAMPS Healthcare provides expertise and personalized services to more than 4,300 accounts nationwide in four business divisions: Group Purchasing, Oncology, Patient Experience and Benefits Consulting. As the business affiliate of The Center for Health Affairs, the leading advocate for Northeast Ohio hospitals, CHAMPS has been dedicated to increasing efficiencies, lowering costs, and providing strategic partnerships for healthcare facilities for 97 years.

To learn more about The Center for Health Affairs Foundation for Health Excellence and how a donation from CHAMPS Healthcare made it possible, contact Deanna Moore at 216.255.3614 or via email.