OKEMOS, Mich. — The Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) announced its 2024 awards recognizing several individuals and programs June 27 during its Annual Membership Meeting.
Ascension St. John Hospital, Detroit, received the MHA Advancing Safe Care Award, which implemented a sickle cell comprehensive care bundle to improve patient outcomes and the quality of life of individuals experiencing sickle cell disease. The hospital provided enhanced education and training for nursing staff to help develop comprehensive knowledge of sickle cell disease, crisis management techniques and cultural competency skills. In addition, collaboration between nursing staff, the pain nurse practitioner and physicians led to a more patient-centered approach to pain management and care. These tactics, along with standardized care protocols and streamlined treatment processes, led to consistency across healthcare settings and optimized patient outcomes. As a result of these nursing care bundles, patients experienced improved health outcomes, experiences of care and overall quality of life. Additional details.
Jawad Shah, MD, founder, president and CEO, Insight, Flint; and Harmony Gould, vice president of hospital & residential services, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, Grand Rapids, received the MHA Healthcare Leadership Award. The award honors outstanding individuals who have provided exceptional leadership to healthcare organizations and to the health and well-being of the community. As the founder and CEO of Insight Health System, Dr. Jawad Shah, a practicing neurosurgeon, has led the organization's expansion from its modest start with just four staff members in Flint in 2008 to a workforce of more than 1,500 across multiple states. Renowned for innovation in healthcare and a commitment to patient-centric care, Insight Health System now caters to more than 10,000 new patients each month, consistently broadening its services to enhance health and well-being in the communities it serves. Gould has led several expansion and improvement projects for Pine Rest, including developing the only behavioral health unit in West Michigan accepting individuals with a COVID-19 diagnosis, leading the opening of two residential units built to alleviate the need for residential care settings for adults and adolescents throughout the state, overseeing an expansion of Pine Rest’s Adult Partial Hospitalization Program and creating a crisis stabilization unit at Pine Rest. Additional details.
The MHA awarded three hospital programs the 2024 MHA Ludwig Community Benefit Award, which is presented to member organizations integrally involved in collaborative programs to improve the health and well-being of area residents. Corewell Health William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, in collaboration with the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, established Street Medicine Oakland, a collaborative community outreach program that provides free medical care to patients experiencing homelessness in Oakland County. Insight Surgical Hospital, Warren, partnered with the Sylvester Broom Empowerment Village to create The Triple-A Affect program to help break down major barriers to success for at-risk youth. The program leverages a mix of arts, academics and athletics to educate and empower children aged five to 17 in areas like behavioral health, general health and wellness. The program serves more than 200 children daily and reaches over 10,000 families per year. Munson Healthcare, Traverse City, operates the Ask-A-Nurse program, a free 24/7, year-round phone line staffed by registered nurses which offers free and easy access to health-related information and triage services. It has handled more than 125,000 calls since its inception, triaging 53% of callers who intended to visit the emergency department to a lower acuity level of care. Additional details.
The 2024 MHA Special Recognition Award recognized two individuals for their extensive contributions to healthcare. Sen. Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) and Rep. Angela Witwer (D-Delta Township) each chair their chamber’s appropriations committee, with Anthony the first Black woman to ever chair the Senate Appropriations Committee. These committees are responsible for determining the annual state budget, covering important healthcare areas including Medicaid, the Healthy Michigan Plan, graduate medical education, the rural access pool and obstetrical stabilization fund, and critical access hospital reimbursement rates. Both lawmakers were strong supporters of Public Act 5 of 2023, sponsored by Witwer, which provided $75 million for hospital workforce recruitment, retention and training in the fiscal year 2023 state budget. In addition, they each fought to include enhanced funding for Level I and Level II trauma centers, inpatient psychiatric payment rates and maternal health in the fiscal year 2024 budget. Both Anthony and Witwer are strong supporters of funding Medicaid appropriately to ensure adequate reimbursement rates for providers and protect access to healthcare services. Additional details.
The MHA Meritorious Service Award, the association’s highest achievement award, was bestowed in 2024 on Loren Hamel, MD, president, Corewell Health in Southwest Michigan. He is honored for his decades of healthcare leadership, serving as MHA Board Chair in 2018, and being a key leader in healthcare in southwest Michigan for the past two decades. Dr. Hamel led the integration of Watervliet Hospital, Southwestern Medical Clinic and Hospice at Home into Lakeland Health and served as Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Health during the integration of the system with the former Spectrum Health in 2018. Dr. Hamel will retire from his current role at Corewell Health June 30, 2024. Additional details.
About the MHA
Based in Greater Lansing, the MHA is the statewide leader representing all community hospitals in Michigan. Established in 1919, the MHA represents the interests of its member hospitals and health systems in both the legislative and regulatory arenas on key issues and supports their efforts to provide quality, cost-effective and accessible care. The MHA’s mission is to advance the health of individuals and communities.
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