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The California Health Care Foundation (CHCF) is seeking potential partners for two public opinion research projects concerning experiences with racism in the health care system.

About CHCF

CHCF is an independent, nonprofit philanthropy dedicated to advancing meaningful, measurable improvements in the way the health care delivery system provides care to the people of California. We know that health care is a basic necessity and work hard to improve California’s health care system so it works for all Californians. Because Californians with low incomes experience the biggest health burden and face the greatest barriers to care, our priority is to make sure they can get the care they need.

We are also committed to health equity and removing health care barriers that Californians face because of their race or ethnicity. We are especially focused on strengthening Medi-Cal — California’s Medicaid program and the cornerstone of the state’s safety net — and finding better ways to meet the health care needs of the millions of people who remain uninsured in our state. And we are working to better integrate care for Californians with mental illness, substance use disorders, or other complex health conditions. COVID-19 and the recession have made all these issues even more urgent.

About CHCF’s Listening Work

CHCF believes that our health care system overall, and especially public programs like Medi-Cal, should reflect the needs, insights, and priorities of the people they serve. As such, we engage in “listening work” to help policymakers and health care partners understand the experiences and attitudes of health care consumers and, to a lesser extent, the doctors, nurses, and other health professionals who provide frontline care. Examples of CHCF listening projects include:

• California Health Policy Survey (annual)
• California COVID-19 tracking polls (2020)
• Health care experiences of Californians with low incomes (fall 2020 and spring 2021)
• Help Wanted: Californians’ Views and Experiences of Serious Illness and End-of-Life Care (2019)
• Listening to Mothers in California (2018)

Anticipated Project Needs

We have two reasons for reaching out at this time:

1. CHCF is looking to identify potential research partners with expertise in race and racism to work with us on listening projects in general. We would like to identify organizations now so we have relationships already established as projects come up in the future.
2. CHCF is looking for help with two specific projects that are in the early planning stages:
   • Experiences of racism among Black health care consumers: The purpose of this project is to identify if and how Black Californians — at different income levels and with different types of health insurance coverage — experience racism in the health care system and understand how they believe it shapes their interaction with the health care system, their health care, and their health.
   • Experiences of racism in the health care system among health care providers: The purpose of this project is to understand how California doctors, nurses, and other health care providers — Black and non-Black — perceive racism in the health care system, what they believe about its impact on patient experience, behavior, and outcomes, and whether they believe there are meaningful actions they and their institutions can take to interrupt it.

Findings from both projects would be published and released publicly by CHCF in collaboration with the research partner(s).

Qualifications We Are Looking For

CHCF is looking for firms or individuals with the following experience and capabilities.

“Must-have” qualifications:

• Expertise and deep experience in public opinion, behavior-change, or social-science research. (We are interested in those with expertise in qualitative and/or quantitative research methods.) 
• Demonstrated experience conducting research on race and racism with individuals and groups who have experienced racism and race-based trauma, raising emotionally difficult topics and grappling with them.
• Demonstrated experience assessing racial bias through public opinion research.
• Experience that facilitates deeper insight into root causes of disparities and disparate impact of organizations and systems. (This need not apply to every member of the research team, but it should be a core characteristic of the team.)
• Demonstrated knowledge of how culture, history, customs, narratives, intergenerational trauma, and values shape views of race and racism.

“Nice-to-have” qualifications:

• Experience conducting research on health care topics and with health care audiences.
• Experience conducting public opinion, behavior-change, or social-science research in California.

Process and Timeline

CHCF has issued this request for qualifications (RFQ) to identify potential research partners for both projects mentioned above, in addition to future listening projects that may arise. If you believe that you meet the qualifications above, we want to hear from you! We are inviting individuals or firms to respond to this RFQ by answering the questionnaire below.

The deadline for responding is September 15, 2020, 11: 59 PM (PT).

We plan to schedule conversations with and may request additional written material from consultants who appear to be a good fit for current or future CHCF listening projects. (September 2020) 

From these conversations, we hope to identify a consultant for the specific projects described in this RFQ. Because there are many possible approaches and factors to consider for doing this research, we will likely issue a planning grant so we can work collaboratively to develop and finalize research methodology, scope of work, timeline, and budget. (October–November 2020) 

If you have questions about this RFQ, please contact Lisa Aliferis.