The Highmark Foundation

The Highmark Foundation was established in 2000 to advance the health, well-being and quality of life of individuals residing in the communities served by Highmark Inc. We achieve this goal by awarding high-impact grants to nonprofit organizations and hospitals to spearhead programs aimed at improving community health.

By awarding high-impact grants starting at $50,000 to nonprofit organizations and hospitals, the Foundation supports programs aimed at improving community health. Established in 2006, Highmark Healthy High 5 — an effort to improve children's health through long-term promotion — is the Foundation's single, largest initiative. Highmark Healthy High 5 is supported by a funding commitment from Highmark Inc. in the amount of $100 million throughout a five-year period.

Central to the Foundation's mission is identifying and continuously re-evaluating Pennsylvania's prevailing health care needs. By doing so, we remain at the forefront of our Commonwealth's health care issues, well-equipped to pinpoint those issues that most urgently need our support. Currently, the Foundation addresses four key areas of health care concern: chronic disease, communicable disease, family health and service delivery systems.

Four key areas of health care concern

1. Chronic Disease — Includes long-term diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis and others. The Foundation supports interventions including nutrition guidance, physical activity, weight management, measuring of chronic disease and more.
2. Communicable Disease — Includes infectious diseases that are communicated from one person to another such as pneumonia, influenza and STDs. The Foundation supports interventions including immunizations, risk reduction and harm reduction.
3. Family Health — Includes the health needs of a family unit, such as adolescent health, maternal child health, nutrition, senior care and more. The Foundation supports interventions such as health education and prevention, children's health promotion, nutrition services and screenings.
4. Service Delivery Systems — Includes availability and access to care in the community in areas such as long-term care, primary care and dental care. The Foundation supports interventions such as efforts to increase the level of participation by private dentists and efforts to eliminate barriers to quality health care based upon economic, cultural, ethnic and racial differences.