State of Population Health Report 2013
Click here to read the latest State of Population Health Report 2013, published by the Population Health Council.
December 17, 2013
Population Health 
September 18, 2013
General Updates 
April 25, 2013
In the News
Board of Directors Urges Expansion of Medicaid in Michigan
The Detroit Wayne County Health Authority Board of Directors approved the following resolution at its regular meeting on April 24, 2013:
Whereas, the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority was established to provide access to health care for all people; and
Whereas, many uninsured adults neglect routine health and dental care until their conditions become emergent, requiring expensive care; and
Whereas, an estimated 125,000 people in Wayne County are currently uninsured; and
Whereas, the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act provides for the expansion of the Medicaid program to cover most of uninsured adults; and
Whereas, Gov. Snyder has endorsed the expansion of Medicaid in Michigan as a prudent measure that is affordable and will improve the quality of life for all; and
Whereas, Michigan stands to be one of only a few states in the nation that deprives vulnerable citizens with basic health and dental care coverage; and
Be it resolved, that the Detroit Wayne County Health Authority Board of Directors, acting on behalf of our member organizations and the citizens of Detroit and Wayne County, strongly urge our State Legislature to authorize Medicaid expansion.
April 17, 2013
General Updates
2012 Legacy DMC Annual Report Documents Now Available
Legacy DMC, the oversight function established through the acquisition of the Detroit Medical Center by Vanguard Health Systems, files an annual report reviewing the DMC’s commitment to charity care and capital improvements. The documents are housed at: About Us > More Info > Documents.
January 15, 2013
General Updates
Authority Health: Community-Based Graduate Medical Education Consortium Residency Program
Click here to find out more about Authority Health—a unique opportunity to learn the practice of primary care medicine at the grassroots community level.
Health Authority, Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine Announce Teaching Health Center in Wayne County
The Detroit Wayne County Health Authority (Health Authority) and Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSU) have been funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to establish a teaching health center in Wayne County. Teaching Health Centers are central to the Affordable Care Act as a tool expand primary care in medically underserved areas and increase the supply of primary care health providers over time.
The Detroit Wayne County Health Authority (Health Authority) and Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine (MSU) have been funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) to establish a teaching health center in Wayne County. Teaching Health Centers are central to the Affordable Care Act as a tool expand primary care in medically underserved areas and increase the supply of primary care health providers over time.
The teaching health center grant, which amounts to $21 million over three years, will involve post-graduate rotations through federally qualified health centers, free clinics, community mental health services, and other provider sites. HRSA has approved funding for 85 new primary care positions in internal medicine, family medicine, pediatrics, psychiatry, obstetrics and gynecology, and geriatrics.
The DWCHA GME Consortium was created to establish an innovative community-based model for residency training that will enhance physicians’ skills and broaden their perspectives in the service of diverse, vulnerable populations. Further, in anticipation of the expansion of the Medicaid-eligible population in 2014, the DWCHA GME Consortium aims to increase the supply of health professionals working in medically underserved communities.
“We’re very pleased to establish this teaching health center in Detroit together with an outstanding, progressive-thinking medical school,” said Chris Allen, CEO of the Health Authority. “The first step toward alleviating the chronic provider shortage in medically-underserved areas is to train primary care physicians in this setting. We believe that many of these physicians will choose to locate here permanently following their residency.”
“This collaboration at this level is a win-win situation for MSU, the Health Authority, and the health care safety net,” explained William D. Strampel, D.O, dean, Michigan State University College of Osteopathic Medicine. “We are excited to work with the Health Authority to create new post-doctoral training opportunities generated as a result of HRSA funding. By establishing six new residency programs based in community health centers offering primary care to the medically underserved, the Health Authority will improve the quality of medical care in the communities it serves. For our medical school, we will be able to offer new ambulatory sites to train medical students and address the need for additional training programs. The Statewide Campus System will oversee curricular implementation, provide educational programs, and assume responsibility for meeting accreditation standards.
“Our collective goal as a Consortium is to create an environment that produces primary care physicians that train and remain in medically underserved areas of greater Detroit.”
Other members of the consortium include federally qualified health centers: Covenant Community Health Center; Detroit Community Health Connections; The Wellness Plan; Western Wayne Family Health Center, and Family Medical Center; as well as The Detroit Medical Center hospitals, Botsford Hospital, and Garden City hospital.
The Teaching Health Center initiative, announced in 2011, is a five-year federal program designed to increase the number of primary care medical and dental residents training in community-based settings. Residency funding comes through the Affordable Care Act.
“This initiative has several anticipated benefits,” explains John Sealey, D.O., who will coordinate the residency program. “The direct involvement of the medical school will improve the quality of medical care provided to the underserved. This patient population provides a wealth of clinical pathology essential for the training of primary care physicians. It is anticipated that osteopathic physicians who receive their postdoctoral education in this educational setting will be more likely to remain in the community which will help address the shortage of healthcare providers in Detroit and Wayne County. It is also a reflection of the Land Grant commitment of Michigan State University to serve for the betterment of citizens in Michigan.”
By augmenting residents from the traditional hospital experience, young physicians will come to understand community health issues from the grassroot level, adds Allen. “This collaboration, which brings a major academic educational institution together with community health centers in Wayne County demonstrates the utility of the Health Authority’s role in the regional safety net. We hope to encourage other academic programs to join us in training the next generation of community health professionals, including dentists, nurses, pharmacists, among others.”
For community health centers, resident physicians will help increase their capacity to serve their communities, explains Ed Larkins, Executive Director of Family Medical Centers Michigan, Monroe. “Family Medical Center of Michigan is extremely pleased to be part of this exciting and innovative medical teaching program. It will be a great benefit to the residents of the communities served by us and other Federally Qualified Community Health Centers in southeastern Michigan. This program will bring additional needed medical resources into underserved communities.”
For more information on the teaching health center grant, contact Chris Allen at 313-477-7239.
October 10, 2012
Faces of the Uninsured
Andrew Thompson, Sculptor and Teacher
It’s not easy being a free-lancer in anything, including teaching. Andrew Thompson is a college instructor at four colleges and is a working sculptor. Yet he has very little money left at the end of the month to purchase health coverage. Included in his monthly bills are payments on $60,000 in student loans, which he will need to pay for 28 years. As a result, he works without it, and without disability and life insurance. He thinks about the risk all the time and looks forward to the day when he can earn enough to pay for a basic, catastrophic coverage. In the meantime, he hopes for good health.
Photo: Donna Terek
Health Authority Announces Kellogg Population Health Fellowship
Tiffany T. Mason, a University of Michigan School of Public Health graduate, has been appointed the first Kellogg Population Health Fellow at The Detroit Wayne County Health Authority. The fellowship was made possible through a grant from the Kellogg Foundation.
Tiffany T. Mason, a University of Michigan School of Public Health graduate, has been appointed the first Kellogg Population Health Fellow at The Detroit Wayne County Health Authority. The fellowship was made possible through a grant from the Kellogg Foundation.
“We’re fortunate to have a person with outstanding educational and professional background to help us develop the Population Health Council at the Health Authority,” said Chris Allen, CEO. “Ms. Mason’s previous work has touched on all aspects of population health – public health, health systems, the political process, and community health advocacy. She will provide much-needed administrative support for the Population Health Council.”
The Population Health Council was established in 2011 to convene representatives from the Detroit, Wayne County, Macomb County, and Oakland County public health departments faculty from graduate schools of public health, researchers working with community health issues, community health training and employment experts, housing officials, occupational and environmental health experts, epidemiology, health system and physician representatives to create a collaboration around improving the health of the regional population, reduce health disparities, and promote health equity.
The Kellogg Foundation grant supports the Population Health Council’s efforts to leverage regional efforts to improve the health status of the region by reducing chronic disease, improving access to prevention and wellness services, and promoting health equity.
Ms. Mason, who graduated in April with a Masters Degree in Public Health, from University of Michigan’s Health Management and Policy Program, has also worked for the Center for Public Health and Tobacco Policy, Detroit Receiving Hospital, and the Greater Detroit Area Health Council. While studying in Switzerland with the School for International Training, Mason completed an independent study project on the public health ethics of Global Polio Eradication Initiative efforts in Nigeria. She has published four articles in two of Yale’s journals of public health.
Ms. Mason has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science, Health Politics, and Policy from Yale University.
Health Authority Receives Grant to Implement Nurse Family Partnership
The Health Authority has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Kellogg Foundation to implement the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) in Detroit. NFP is an evidenced-based program that improves the outcomes of infants by strengthening the capacity of first-time parents to prepare for child birth and care for the child in their first years of development.
The Health Authority has been awarded a three-year, $1.5 million grant from the Kellogg Foundation to implement the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) in Detroit. NFP is an evidenced-based program that improves the outcomes of infants by strengthening the capacity of first-time parents to prepare for child birth and care for the child in their first years of development.
“We are honored to bring the Nurse Family Partnership to Detroit and augment other community health efforts to improve outcomes for infants in vulnerable populations,” explained Chris Allen, Health Authority CEO. “As has been noted in the past, and with personal experience working with the Family Road program at the old Hutzel Hospital site, when parents are properly prepared, from the perspective of personal health and parenting skills, the outcomes for children are much greater. Our community needs to make a concerted effort to reduce infant mortality in Detroit and Wayne County.”
Together with the Wayne County Child Health Access Program (WCHAP), the Health Authority will strengthen its involvement with maternal and child health, Allen said. “There are several gaps in the services provided for people in the health care safety net, from maternal health through gerontology. In order to achieve our goal of enhanced health and wellness for people in the health care safety net, the Health Authority will explore programs like NFP that will fill these gaps.”
The NFP will impact two neighborhoods in Detroit, one on the Eastside and one on the Westside. NFP uses the skills of registered nurses who have added training in the NFP protocol to form relationships with low income first-time mothers early in their pregnancy designed to help women and their families connect with medical and socio-environmental resources. The NFP program is able to reduce the impact of poverty and improve the lives of disadvantaged young families by counseling and connecting with job and hiring resources and helping family members obtain needed skills to succeed. The bond formed between the nurse and mother serves to improve prenatal care follow- through, be more aware of danger signs, improve care-seeking for primary care needs, plan for delivery and return to a safe home environment. Infant mortality is reduced in families receiving NFP and mothers have better success in planning next pregnancies.
The Detroit NFP will establish a partnership with the Wayne State University School of Medicine Midwifery Program, which has been a progressive force in Detroit maternity care. “Nurse midwives, which currently work exclusively in the hospital environment, will now be able to work with their patients in their home,” Allen said. “In a sense, NFP will reinvent the historic role of nurse midwives in Detroit.”
The Detroit NFP team will consist of five registered nurses and a nurse supervisor. The Michigan Department of Community Health and NFP National Service Office will consult on the project, which plans to engage 125 families from pregnancy through two years after the infant’s birth.
Specific goals of the program are:
- Improve pregnancy outcomes through improved prenatal care.
- Improve children’s health and development by helping parents provide sensitive and competent care giving.
- Help parents develop a vision for the future, plan subsequent pregnancies, complete education/job training, and find employment
For more information on the NFP Detroit program, contact Chris Allen at 313-871-3751.
July 8, 2012
Faces of the Uninsured
Rosa Reyna, Waitress
Rosa Reyna has glaucoma in her right eye. She treats the disease with medicated eye drops that cost $98 per bottle, refilled monthly. She needs to see an eye specialist every six weeks, costing $177 per visit. When she was married, she had insurance. She is no longer married and became uninsured. She lives in Southwest Detroit on her part-time earnings from serving at a restaurant and receives child support for three of her four children a little more than $1,000 a month. With that, she needs to make a house payment and various insurances and pay for medical expenses.
When Rosa became pregnant with her youngest daughter, she stopped working and couldnt afford to buy her glaucoma medication. She began to develop headaches on the right side of her head, a symptom of increased pressure in the eye from glaucoma which can lead to blindness. Worse, if the condition is not contained, it could spread to her other eye and she could become blind. Rosa also stopped paying her auto insurance. Her car was severely by a hit-and-run collision, leaving her with an $1,800 repair bill.
Rosa considered going on Medicaid disability, but she would have been declared legally blind, preventing her from driving. Caring for four children without an automobile would be extremely difficult.. She opted to return to work at the restaurant and continue her struggle to meet her financial obligations and care for her children. One day, the Detroit Free Press featured her in an article about the growing number of medically uninsured people in the United States. A Health Authority community outreach worker read about her plight and offered Rosa some insurance options that will cover much of the cost of her eye care as well as provide coverage for her primary care, which she has neglected since her last pregnancy. However, if it wasnt for the Free Press article and the Health Authority, Rosa may not have been reached and may one day have lost her vision.
Photo: Donna Terek