In 2000, the Hospital Research and Educational Trust (HRET) created the Walter J. McNerney Fellowship for Health System Improvement. The purpose of the fellowship is to increase understanding, unity, and collaboration among all segments of the health care field.

In recognition of the fellowship and Walter McNerney's leadership in founding Inquiry, it is establishing a feature dedicated to exploring ideas concerning the role and opportunities facing the nation's nonprofit sector, including health care delivery and financing.

Mr. McNerney, the Herman Smith Professor Emeritus of Health Policy at Northwestern University's Kellogg School and a past president of the national Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, has had a major impact on health care in his 45-year career. He was one of the first to point out that the nation's health care delivery and financing organizations were part of a larger nonprofit economic sector, and that this third sector (the first two being government and business) played a critical part in assuring the overall vitality of society. Moreover, he recognized that society has looked increasingly to the third sector to address its most intractable social and educational problems.

Reflecting on this greater understanding, the McNerney Forum will take this broad view, inviting papers and dialogue that focus on continual improvement in performance of the third sector, including health care delivery and financing entities.

Beginning with the Winter 2001 issue, the McNerney Forum will be a regular feature of Inquiry. Forum papers will be published in the journal and also will be published in the journal and also will be available on the Inquiry web site. Authors are invited to submit papers to:

Inquiry
The McNerney Fellowship Forum
Box 25399
Rochester, NY 14625