History

JHF is established with proceeds from the sale of Montefiore Hospital.

An annual commitment is made to financially support the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, which distributes these funds to key agencies in the Jewish community, helping to address the community's health-related needs. Over $90 million has been provided to the Jewish community since 1990.

Alvin Rogal is appointed as the founding chairman of JHF.

Karen Wolk Feinstein is named the inaugural President and CEO.

The Breast Test airs across Pennsylvania — a project in partnership with WQED to increase awareness and education about breast cancer detection and screening.

Operation KidShot, a project to immunize children in Southwestern Pennsylvania against preventable childhood diseases, begins. Nearly 6,000 children were immunized as a result of Operation KidShot. The effort also influences passage of a state law requiring all health insurers to cover childhood immunizations.

JHF becomes the fiscal agent for Ryan White Part B funding to support HIV/AIDS services, beginning JHF’s decades-long work to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The Healthy Jewish Community Project, a community assessment to understand the needs of the Pittsburgh Jewish community, identifies needs related to prevention of illness and injury, supporting those who are sick, and promoting quality of life. The project leads JHF to adopt a broad definition of health in its mission.

The Pittsburgh Regional Health Initiative (PRHI), the first operating arm of JHF, is formed under the leadership of Alcoa Chairman and CEO Paul O’Neill and Karen Wolk Feinstein. PRHI is one of the nation's first regional multi-stakeholder collaboratives organized to address healthcare safety and quality improvement as a health and business imperative.

JHF funds the planning and creation of the Squirrel Hill Community Food Pantry—the only also-kosher food pantry in the Greater Pittsburgh area.

In collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), PRHI convenes infection control practitioners and infectious disease physicians to reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections by 63% in the region's intensive care units at 29 participating hospitals.

Perfecting Patient Care (The Pittsburgh Perfecting Patient Care System: A New Design for Delivering Health), a workforce development program based on the tenets of the Toyota Production System, is created and helps healthcare workers understand how to apply quality improvement principles to their work.

The Jonas Salk Fellowship is established. This is the first JHF Fellowship, which brings together interdisciplinary students within health careers to advance understanding of key healthcare issues not covered in traditional graduate-level curriculum.

Working Hearts, an initiative designed to help women improve their heart health through a local, regional, and national women’s coalition, is launched.

Health Careers Futures, an operating arm of JHF, is founded to reimagine the healthcare workforce—from providing innovative training and coaching, to examining scope of work, to supporting emerging or entirely new professions.

The Patient Safety Fellowship begins to train interdisciplinary professionals and graduate students in the challenges of safety in health care and applying Lean techniques to improve outcomes.

In partnership with the Allegheny County Medical Society, the first JHF Champions program kicks off, working with physicians bringing best practices and quality improvement techniques to six different healthcare settings.

JHF establishes the Squirrel Hill Health Center, a Federally Qualified Health Center, providing quality care to everyone, regardless of their income level or insurance status.

The Pittsburgh Way to Efficient Healthcare by Naida Grunden is published, highlighting the efforts of PRHI to address patient safety problems. The book goes on to win a 2013 Shingo Research and Professional Publication Award.

Modern Healthcare’s December cover story, “Hospital-Acquired Revenue,” spotlights PRHI’s work showing that hospitals faced financial penalties for reducing hospital-acquired infections.

Closure initiative brings over 30 community leaders together to share collective experiences, expertise, and passion to develop an agenda to advance end-of-life care.

PA Health Funders Collaborative forms to improve the effectiveness of health funders’ initiatives by collaborating, networking, sharing best practices, and creating a unified voice among funders working in communities across Pennsylvania.

JHF takes its first study tour to Israel (the first of many international study tours), where 23 community leaders gather and share breakthrough ideas for health care and social service improvement. This leads to a Monograph series comparing U.S. and Israeli health systems and exploring alternative methods of delivery and payment.

JHF begins its journey of experiments aimed at upending and reintegrating the worlds of behavioral health and physical health into a redesigned primary care setting.

JHF and PRHI serve as a key player in the Pennsylvania Regional Extension Center program, providing quality improvement training, workflow redesign, and information on best practices for implementing and optimizing the use of electronic health record technology to improve the quality and value of health care.

The Minority AIDS Initiative is established to improve access to HIV care and health outcomes for racial and ethnic minority populations disproportionately affected by HIV across Pennsylvania.

The book Moving Beyond Repair: Perfecting Health Care is published as a call for applying Lean-based tools to full functionality in hospitals, physician practices, and nursing homes, in order to move beyond targeted problem-solving to transforming the way both organizations and healthcare systems achieve, spread and sustain value.

RAVEN (Reduce AVoidable hospitalizations using Evidence-based interventions for Nursing facilities), a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) funded initiative, is established to improve the outcomes of nursing facility residents and reduce overall health spending in this population.

PRHI leads a three-year, $10.4 million Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation project which sought to show that a hospital-based support hub—called a Primary Care Resource Center (PCRC)—staffed by nurse care managers, a pharmacist, and an administrative assistant with full access to their institution’s array of specialty services, could improve care for patients with three common chronic illnesses and reduce unnecessary hospitalizations.

The Death and Dying Fellowship kicks off, aiming to better prepare the next generation of healthcare professionals to have meaningful conversations around the end of life.

AIDS Free Pittsburgh launches as a collaborative of government agencies, healthcare institutions, and community-based organizations striving to support and improve the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS.

Karen Wolk Feinstein presents at TEDxBeaconStreet in Boston. Her talk initiates the creation of WHAMglobal.

JHF opens the Virtual Senior Academy as a free live-streaming platform offering interactive courses on health and wellness, technology, literature, arts and music, history, and current events.

The PA Youth Advocacy Network commences with a Youth Advocacy Summit at Pittsburgh CAPA on election day, where students had the opportunity to advocate for improved mental health services to policymakers.

JHF launches the Pennsylvania Perinatal Quality Collaborative, identifying perinatal processes in need of improvement and quickly adopting best practices to achieve common aims.

JHF makes a $2.5 million emergency grant over two years to the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh for COVID-19 relief to ensure essential services remain available throughout the pandemic.

Liftoff PGH, a 15-day virtual summit, bolsters relationships between academic, health care and technological innovators to discuss the efforts needed to establish Pittsburgh as a national and global hub for healthcare and life sciences innovation.

Revisiting the Teaching Nursing Home pilot project launches, revitalizing an approach to more deeply integrate nursing homes and nursing schools to enrich student experiences through clinical rotations in nursing homes and to support the implementation of the Age-Friendly Health Systems 4Ms framework.

JHF produces What COVID-19 Exposed in Long Term Care. The short documentary delved into the issues behind the pandemic’s profound impact on long-term care and skilled nursing facilities and was a selection of five film festivals in 2021.