Health leaders review successes covered by ‘Wellness Fund’

BOSTON – About a year before funding is set to expire for a state trust fund aimed at preventing chronic health conditions, community health organizations and other stakeholders shared with lawmakers their success stories and concerns about what could happen when the program ends.
The Prevention and Wellness Trust Fund was established as part of a 2012 health care cost containment law and funded with $60 million over four years through an assessment on health insurers and large hospital systems. The fund allocated money to nine local partnerships that focus on pediatric asthma, hypertension, falls in older adults, and tobacco use.