About Us
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Commission to Build a Healthier America is a national, independent, non-partisan group of leaders that will raise visibility of the many factors that influence health, examine innovative interventions that are making a real difference at the local level and in the private sector, and identify specific, feasible steps to improve Americans’ health.
America’s public debate on “health” has mostly centered on access to and affordability of care, even though a large body of evidence tells us that, in most cases, whether or not a person gets sick has little to do with seeing a doctor. This Commission will focus on those factors beyond medical care that have an enormous influence on health and will ask what we can do about it. These factors include:
While data are collected on many of these factors, these data are rarely analyzed or acted upon with the intention of improving health.
The Commission’s journey builds on the Foundation’s years of investment in programs that foster better health outcomes. Under the leadership of Co-Chairs Mark McClellan and Alice Rivlin, the Commission will capitalize on the perspectives and experience of a multidisciplinary group of leaders with involvement both in and outside of the health care field.