February Virtual Speaker Series

Date: February 6, 2026
Time: 12:00 - 1:00 pm ET
Title: Philanthropic Funding for Nurse-Managed Health Centers in Philadelphia, 1988-2002
Authors: Andre A. Rosario & Julie Fairman
Speaker: Andre Rosario

Brief Abstract: Since 1988, the Independence Foundation, a philanthropic organization based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has funded nursing education as well as nurse-managed health centers: clinics where nurse practitioners serve as the primary health-care providers for patients. Although the literature highlights nurses’ autonomy in nurse-managed health clinics, few studies have examined the role of private, non-profit philanthropy in influencing state and federal policy related to nurse practitioners and nurse-managed health centers. This presentation documents the Independence Foundation’s support for its first nurse-managed health centers and its first endowed professorships in nursing. It also highlights the foundation’s role in advocating for state-level Medicaid policies that would support nurse practitioners serving as primary-care providers. Relying on organizational documents, academic nursing publications, and original oral-history interviews with Independence Foundation staff and Independence Foundation Endowed Chairs, this presentation examines key figures in the expansion of the nurse-managed health center model as well as barriers to the model scaling beyond Philadelphia. What started as the Independence Foundation’s funding for academic nursing and for nurse-managed health centers ultimately led to evidence and experiences that the foundation leveraged to define the nurse-managed health center model and to call for expanded scope of practice for nurse practitioners. The new findings presented here elucidate the role of philanthropy in nurse-managed clinics and policy related to the settings.

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