The Alliance for Health Policy Concludes First Ever Signature Seminar Programs, Releases Reports on Mental Health and Rare Disease

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

The Alliance for Health Policy Concludes First Ever Signature Seminar Programs, Releases Reports on Mental Health and Rare Disease

– Releases reports on key seminar findings, plus an illustrated stakeholder map on rare disease
– Outcomes will inform upcoming Alliance educational programming for legislative staff and the broader policy community

Washington, D.C. — The Alliance for Health Policy today released final reports with findings from its 2024 Signature Seminars on Mental Health and Rare Disease.

• Mental Health Report
• Rare Disease Report

In 2024, the organization began hosting Signature Seminar programs as part of the “Incubate” phase of the Alliance’s two-step program lifecycle. This phase involves bringing together experts across the health policy community to provide insights and direction on key policy issues, which a focus on priority areas of education and interest for policymakers.

Armed with these findings, the Alliance will now transition to the “Educate” phase, in which they will develop educational programming based on the seminar findings and aimed at legislative staffers and the health policy community.

“By harnessing the expertise of our whip-smart and experienced Alliance community, these programs allow us to brainstorm and develop new resources for understanding important policy issues like mental health and rare disease,” said Claire Sheahan, M.Sc., President and CEO of the Alliance. “These programs generate insights and recommendations that inform future educational programming on the topic for our policy community that reflects a breadth of stakeholder input. That aligns with our 30-plus year history of upholding our nonpartisan, stakeholder-neutral mission. We are grateful to our sponsors and participants for making these energizing and productive discussions and the reports they generate possible.”

About the 2024 Signature Seminar on Mental Health

The 2024 Signature Seminar on Mental Health identified strategies to improve outcomes and patient experiences. One workshop reviewed case studies of successful programs serving youth, elderly and those exiting the criminal justice system, and looked for shared learnings in the examples.

“Mental health remains a pressing national issue, and one of bipartisan interest,” said Sheahan. “The insights and recommendations developed during our Signature Seminar on Mental Health provide a grounding foundation for those who are interested in how the mental health policy landscape is evolving. It will also provide the Alliance excellent guidance as we develop further programs for those who want to learn more about how to drive meaningful progress in policymaking.”

About the 2024 Signature Seminar on Rare Disease

The 2024 Signature Seminar on Rare Disease illuminated pressing challenges and opportunities in the current landscape in rare disease policy, and provided a roadmap for future educational programming. Based on the repeated finding of the need for a better understanding of key actors in rare disease policy, one workshop generated an illustrated stakeholder map of over 80 stakeholders who play a significant role in the rare disease policy conversation.

“As part of our listening process, we learned that rare disease policy is a bipartisan priority. At the same time, there was not a readily available, easy-to-understand guide to ‘who’s who’ in rare disease,” said Sheahan. “This Signature Seminar on Rare Disease allowed us to draw on the collective wisdom of our community to create a first version of a stakeholder list to fill that gap and share it publicly. This resource is designed to generate further conversation, honing and updating by the community. We look forward to continuing to build on the insights and frameworks developed during this Signature Seminar to develop effective, nonpartisan Congressional education.”

View the rare disease stakeholder map:

About the Alliance for Health Policy

The Alliance for Health Policy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping policymakers and the public better understand health policy, the root of the nation’s health care issues, and the trade-offs posed by various proposals for change. We believe a better health care system begins with a balanced exchange of evidence, experience, and multiple perspectives.

For media inquiries related to this announcement, please contact Carolyn Sobczyk at csobczyk@allhealthpolicy.org.