The Hilltop Institute logo

Bulletin

News from The Hilltop Institute at UMBC

Direction of Hilltop’s Hospital Community Benefit Program Changes Hands

The Hilltop Institute at UMBC is pleased to announce that Martha H. Somerville, JD, MPH, is the new director of its Hospital Community Benefit Program. Somerville is a senior policy analyst at The Hilltop Institute and has devoted much of her time to the program since its inception in 2010. She is co-author of the program’s issue briefs and is actively involved in the program’s newsletter.

Somerville has been at Hilltop for 15 years, where she has authored or contributed to state administrative regulations, program evaluations, state agency reports to legislative committees, and policy briefs. In addition, she has led or participated in various Hilltop projects, including tax return-based outreach to Medicaid/CHIP-eligible but uninsured children, “Express Lane” eligibility, Medicaid cost sharing, nonprofit hospital governance, regulatory oversight of private health insurance premiums, qualification review of managed care organization (MCO) applicant health plans, and support for Maryland health care reform.

Somerville replaces Donna Folkemer, who moved into the position of director of long-term services and supports policy and research at Hilltop. Folkemer remains a consultant to the program.

Somerville can be contacted at 410.455.6729 or msomerville@hilltop.umbc.edu.

 

 

 

 

Hilltop’s Hospital Community Benefit Program is the central resource created specifically for state and local policymakers who seek to ensure that tax-exempt hospital community benefit activities are responsive to pressing community health needs. The program provides tools to state and local policymakers, as these stakeholders develop approaches that will best suit their communities. The program is funded for three years through the generous sponsorship of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (www.rwjf.org) and the Kresge Foundation (www.kresge.org).

The Hilltop Institute at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) is a nationally recognized policy and research center dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of vulnerable populations. Hilltop conducts research, analysis, and evaluations on behalf of government agencies, foundations, and nonprofit organizations at the national, state, and local levels.
 
The Hilltop Institute
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
Sondheim Hall, 3rd Floor
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore, Maryland 21250
410.455.6854
www.hilltopinstitute.org