Kaiser Health News, a respected national news service covering healthcare policy, is coming to Colorado, thanks to a partnership of two local funders and the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Colorado Health Foundation and the Colorado Trust have made a long-term commitment to funding a full-time, Colorado-based Kaiser Health News reporter, according to a press release today, March 5, from the Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser will also recruit “a team of freelance journalists throughout the state to bring the same high-quality health journalism to Colorado and the surrounding region that KHN produces nationally,” the release says.

As is the case with many digital news outlets, Kaiser Health News will make its stories “freely available for publication” by other media outlets.

“Elevating the voices and exploring the experiences of Coloradans and the communities they call home are key to achieving more health equity in our state,” said Karen McNeil-Miller, president and CEO of the Colorado Health Foundation. “News stories illustrate and bring to life what data alone cannot. They shine a light on the often invisible barriers that inequity creates in the lives of far too many Coloradans. Trusted and reliable news sources are critical to creating an informed and engaged public and surfacing solutions that will bring health in reach for all of us.”

The partnership between local and national funders puts muscle behind this new effort. And it fills a significant coverage gap that has existed for the past four years. Health News Colorado, a homegrown health news outlet run by former Denver Post editor and columnist Diane Carman, produced high-quality local health journalism from 2010 to 2015 before its philanthropic funding ran dry.

The Colorado Trust also produces excellent coverage of health equity issues on its website.