| Opportunity announced | August 17, 2026 |
| Proposals due | September 17, 2026 |
| Grant recipient announced | October 2026 |
| Project begins | October/November 2026 |
| Project ends | September 2027 |
| Award amount | TBD |
Purpose
The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) is an independent, nonprofit philanthropy that works to improve the health care system so that all Californians have the care they need. We focus especially on making sure the system works for Californians with low incomes and for communities who have traditionally faced the greatest barriers to care. We partner with leaders across the health care safety net to ensure they have the data and resources to make care more just and to drive improvement in a complex system.
CHCF is seeking to identify a grantee or grantees to prepare an Almanac report on general acute care hospitals in California. The report will provide an overview of hospital supply, capacity, use of services, financial health, and quality measures.
Background
The California Health Care Almanac (Almanac) provides objective information on health care costs, coverage, and delivery system that supports thoughtful planning and effective decisionmaking. The Almanac is a comprehensive online clearinghouse for key data and analysis describing California’s health care landscape.
Hospitals play a vital role in the health care delivery system. In 2024, hospital care represented one-third of total US health care spending. Hospitals deliver essential medical care, emergency services, and community health programs; employ hundreds of thousands of workers; and train new resident physicians. In California, 299 general acute care (GAC) hospitals discharged 2.8 million patients and reported 51.2 million outpatient visits, including 13.4 million emergency department visits in 2024.1 They also frequently serve as safety net providers, offering critical care to uninsured Californians, low-income patients, and Medi-Cal enrollees.
Accurate data on the supply, use, financing, and quality of care in general acute care hospitals is essential for understanding a key segment of California’s complex health care ecosystem.
Project Description
California Hospitals should include, at a minimum, the following topics:
- Supply and capacity. Review and analyze the number of hospitals and beds by type, region, and ownership.
- Utilization. Analyze data on hospital admissions, discharges and visits, including emergency departments.
- Financing. Review and analyze data on hospital finances. Data should include margins, revenue, expenses (e.g., cost per adjusted patient discharge), and financial reserves.
- Market structure and pricing. Review and analyze data on market concentration in geographic markets in California. Summarize major findings from published peer-reviewed analysis regarding price variation for common services in California hospitals.
- Quality. Review and analyze hospital quality-of-care measures and California’s performance on them.
Where data allow, a comparison of California data to national averages, and regional differences within California should be explored. In addition, the publication should include a review of major market and policy developments affecting California hospitals, including recent state-based subsidy programs (e.g., Distressed Hospital Loan Program) and federal cuts to Medi-Cal revenue streams.
The intended audience for the report includes California policymakers, advocates, researchers, and the media.
The contractor selected under this RFP will be required to research and develop a “snapshot” report. The report is intended to be data-intensive and should be weighted towards charts, tables, and graphics. (Please click on the link below for sample charts used in the Almanac.) The final report shall be completely and correctly annotated. All data factchecking shall be the responsibility of the contractor. CHCF will oversee the production and dissemination of final research and any resulting publicity. The contractor should anticipate several rounds of feedback from the program officer and CHCF’s editor and designer; this feedback will depend on the completeness, accuracy, and quality of the work product submitted to CHCF. Please see the CHCF Almanac Style Guide for more information on the foundation’s publication guidelines. A copy of the template used to prepare a similar report will be provided.
Proposed Timeline
| Grantee selected and contract signed | October 2026 |
| Draft Outline | December 2026 |
| First draft of report in Excel submitted | March 2027 |
| Second draft of report submitted | May 2027 |
| Final report published | September 2027 |
Respondents may propose alternative deadlines to enable use of difficult-to-access data sources.
Proposal Packet
Proposals should include the following materials:
- Project Cover Sheet. See the cover sheet template, which is not included in the six-page limit.
- Proposal narrative. The proposal narrative should be no more than six pages, double-spaced, in a 12-point font and should include a brief description of general acute care hospitals in California and the major market and policy developments affecting them.
- Description of potential topics to be included in the report, and an outline of how the topics will be organized.
- Description of the data sources that will be used for the report, including prior experience with these data sources.
- A preliminary list of analyses that will be completed for this project, including where national, regional, and/or other comparisons will be made.
- A project work plan and timeline, including a list of anticipated project deliverables and milestones with planned completion dates or date ranges. Please explain any deviations from proposed deadlines for the draft and final reports
- Appendices. Appendices do not count toward the six-page limit.
- Qualifications of the organization and project staff, including prior experience conducting health care-related research projects and data analysis.
- A detailed budget for the project. See the budget form, which is not included in the six-page limit.
Proposals must be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on September 17, 2026. Proposals should be emailed in one PDF file to Diana Banki, program associate.
For More Information
For questions about the project or proposal submission process, contact Robbin Gaines.
Appendix: Sample Template of Snapshot Report
The selected grantee will prepare the draft and final reports using a template provided by the California Health Care Foundation. A sample of the charts used is provided below.
Download the Template
Endnotes
- 2024 Pivot Table – Hospital Annual Selected File (April 2026 Extract), California Health and Human Services Agency, last updated May 4, 2026. ↩︎