KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, which is its business operating name, to reduce confusion because it is not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente and it is no longer a foundation.[2] KFF states that it is a non-partisan organization focused on health policy. It conducts its own research, polling, journalism, and specialized public health information campaigns.[3] Its website has been heralded for having the "most up-to-date and accurate information on health policy"[4] and as a "must-read for healthcare devotees."[5]
Current activities
Policy analysis and polling
KFF publishes analysis, polling and journalism about health-care issues, and states that much of its work especially concerns persons with low income or those who are otherwise especially vulnerable to health-care cost, such as the uninsured, those with chronic illnesses, or Medicaid/Medicare recipients. In addition to domestic U.S. health policy issues, KFF also conducts work on the U.S. role in global health policy.[6]
In early 2020 its analysis and polling focused heavily on the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2010, KFF began providing resources for consumers seeking information about the then new health insurance law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with a series of animated videos[7] explaining the health law and health insurance terms as well as a calculator[8] for people to estimate what health insurance coverage would cost them.
KFF is also well known for public opinion research, documenting the views and experiences of the public on health and related issues – often in partnership with major news organizations, such as The Washington Post[9] and The New York Times.[10]
Health news and information
As one of the core programs of KFF, KFF Health News focuses on coverage of health care policy and politics.[11] KFF Health News provides coverage of health policy issues and developments at the federal and state levels in the health care marketplace and health care delivery system.[12] It was formerly known as Kaiser Health News (KHN), but was renamed in April 2023 to communicate its ownership by KFF.[13]
In 2024 and 2020, KFF Health News reporters were finalists for a Pulitzer Prize in Investigative Reporting for exposing how the Social Security Administration routinely reduced or suspended monthly checks to take back funds to pay off large debts that were often created by its own miscalculation of people’s benefits[14] and for exposing predatory bill collection by the University of Virginia Health System that relentlessly squeezed low-income patients – many into bankruptcy – forcing the non-profit, state-run hospital to change its tactics.[15]
KFF formerly sponsored training and site visits for health care reporters.[16][17]
In 2023, KFF launched the Health Misinformation & Trust Initiative[18] for tracking health misinformation in the U.S, analyzing its impact on the American people, and mobilizing media to address the problem.[19]
KFF also works with major media and corporate partners, government agencies and health departments, national leadership and community organizations, and other partners to create large-scale public information campaigns on pressing health and social issues, mostly on HIV/AIDS.
Under Greater Than HIV[20] (formerly Greater Than AIDS) – a national public information response to the U.S. epidemic launched in 2009 – KFF works with a broad cross-section of public and private partners[21] to increase knowledge, reduce stigma and promote actions to stem the spread of HIV. While national in scope, Greater Than HIV focuses on communities most affected. Previous programs include Greater than Covid and Get Yourself Tested.[22][23]
History
KFF was established in 1948 by Henry J. Kaiser. At that time, the organization, which was known as the Kaiser Family Foundation, was set up in Oakland, California, the same city in which Kaiser Permanente's headquarters were located. Later, KFF moved to Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, about 35 miles away from Oakland. In 2018, it relocated to San Francisco, CA.[24]
When Kaiser died in 1967, his second wife, Alyce Chester, inherited half of his estate, and the other half went to the KFF. Alyce sold all of her holdings, moved far away, and remarried. Mr. Kaiser's children received very little direct inheritance; but did receive authority to run the Kaiser Industries businesses, and the Kaiser Family Foundation.[citation needed]
In 1977, ten years after Kaiser's death, the conglomerate of disparate Kaiser Industries organizations split apart. The Kaiser Family Foundation was initially a major owner of these shares: at the time of dissolution, the foundation owned 32 percent, according to
Fortune Magazine.[25]
By 1985, the foundation no longer had an ownership stake in the Kaiser companies and is no longer associated with Kaiser Permanente or Kaiser Industries.[26] KFF is now an independent national organization with a Board of Trustees that have backgrounds in public service, academia, nonprofits, health care, and media.[27]
Starting in September 1990, KFF CEO Drew Altman directed "a complete overhaul of the Foundation's mission and operating style." Altman changed a "sleepy grant-making organization" (some $30 million a year interest on the $400 million endowment), into a leading voice and repository for facts and information on health-care issues, [28] remaking the organization by establishing new programs, recruiting staff, becoming an operating foundation and then later, a public charity.[29]
