Commission to Build a Healthier America

By the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) Commission to Build a Healthier America was a national, independent, non-partisan group of leaders established in 2008 to examine the many factors outside of medical care that influence health.

The Commission researched and reviewed evidence, collected new data, and listened to experts, leaders, and citizens around the country, and released Beyond Health Care, a report highlighting recommendations to improve health at the local, state, and federal levels, in 2009.

In 2013, RWJF reconvened the Commission, which released Time to Act in 2014. That report recommended that in order to improve the health of all Americans, we must:

• Invest in the foundations of lifelong physical and mental well-being in our youngest children
• Create communities that foster health-promoting behaviors
• Broaden health care to promote health outside of the medical system.