Working Together For Michigan Consumers To be Healthy

Projects

Are you looking for additional information on projects that Michigan Consumers for Healthcare is working on? We have provide links and resources to all of our projects below.

Michigan Consumers for Healthcare

2014-2015 Project List

1.        Public Education on the ACA:

MCH educates consumers throughout the state on what the Affordable Care Act will mean for themselves, their families and their place of work. This takes a variety of forms including but not limited to: In person presentations, providing materials at public events, issue specific conference calls and webinars, a variety of social media platforms. Each presentation non – partisan and tailored to the unique needs of the audience. The clearing house for our all our information is our website: consumersforhealthcare.org

2.         Coalition Building:

MCH works to build and sustain a strong, and effective consumer coalition to represent consumer interests in the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. MCH has drawn together over 200 consumer organizations to attain affordable, accessible, quality healthcare coverage for everyone in Michigan through policy research, public education, coalition engagement and strategic advocacy. MCH is a non-partisan, statewide coalition with regional staff located in Grand Rapids, Detroit, Lansing, and Flint. It is free to join the MCH coalition, member benefits include: Instant access to our policy and legislative briefs, talking points and up to date information from our national partners. MCH also offers its membership a comprehensive suite of capacity supports, which potential members can explore here: http://consumersforhealthcare.org/what-we-do/join-us

3.         Policy Analysis:

Through the efforts of our staff and the Statewide Policy Workgroup (PWG) that they comprise, MCH is the leading voice for health policy analysis in Michigan. MCH reviews upcoming policies with an eye towards protecting consumers and ensuring their voice is heard when policies are designed.  The PWG meets monthly in Lansing but Coalition members are encouraged to join via conference call as well.

4.         Policy Blocking:

MCH recognizes that a great deal of bad policy is proposed that could have very negative ramifications for consumers. One of the primary functions of MCH is to ensure that consumers, advocates and policymakers are made fully aware of the potential impact(s) proposed policies would have. MCH produces policy briefs, leads conference calls and invites other advocates to weigh in on controversial legislation. When appropriate MCH meets directly with policy makers to highlight issues with policies they may be unaware of or that has been hidden from them.

5.         Communications and Social Media:

MCH works hard to build and maintain a strong, informative and interactive full 360 degree social media and communication approach to all of our work. MCH manages and operates a Facebook account, Twitter feed, Tumblr page, YouTube channel and more. to inform consumers and help to mobilize the MCH coalition to spread messaging.  The social media approach is fluent, cohesive and visually appealing to the MCH target demographics that have been determined for each project and for MCH as a whole. You can follow MCH on twitter: @MICHealthcare. As a benefit to our partners MCH provided this webinar on social media 101 to assist their own efforts:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABm5rZ9YLt4

6.        Dual Eligibility Demonstration Project  – Michigan Voices for Better Health (MVBH) :

The MVBH project is an effort to advance care and establish a strong voice for Michigan’s 220,000 “dual eligibles:” who are older Americans and Americans with disabilities who qualify for both Medicare and Medicaid coverage.  With a lack of coordination between our state’s Medicaid and Medicare systems, dual eligible beneficiaries tend to be poorer, sicker and rely more heavily on supportive services, and are forced to navigate through a complicated maze of multiple doctors, medications and programs. This results in expensive care for these patients, costing the state more than an estimated $8 billion in Medicare and Medicaid spending annually.  MVBH will help to shape the Affordable Care Act’s implementation of the Michigan’s  “Integrated Care for People who are Dually.”

Eligible” demonstration project, expected to launch in 2015 in Wayne County, Macomb County, eight counties throughout Southwest Michigan, and the entire upper peninsula to provide better care to the dual eligible beneficiaries in these regions that have disabilities or chronic illnesses.  This effort will be accomplished by the project’s multi-year efforts to recruit and engage dual eligible consumers on governing boards of pre-paid patient health plans and provider groups to assist them with providing more person-centered care, and will be involved in discussions with state policymakers who are working on shaping the state’s federal demonstration project. The MVBH project is a joint effort of Michigan Consumers for Healthcare (MCH), the Michigan Poverty Law Program (MPLP), and the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition (MDRC). To learn more about the project please explore: http://michiganvoicesforbetterhealth.com/

7.         Enroll Michigan – Federal Navigation Project:

MCH has been selected by the federal government to be a Navigator assisting the uninsured in making their enrollment decisions.  The Coalition will be Michigan’s only truly statewide Navigator program, engaging more than 120 partner agencies in the important work of reaching out to and assisting hard to reach populations everywhere. MCH will lead a network of Regional Lead Navigator (RLN) RLN agencies will be provides funding under this grant to establish a dedicated staff position charged with providing support to enrollment efforts within their communities and to lead collaborative efforts among all local stakeholders.  The Coalition will also be working with other grassroots organizations to ensure that outreach and education efforts are tied closely into the local navigator and certified application counselor networks.   You can learn more about this project:enrollmichigan.com

8.         Outreach to the LGBTQ community:

MCH undertook a six-month project to build awareness of the ACA within Michigan’s major LGBTQ populations centers, as well as key implementation activities where their input can make a positive impact on their communities, including:  Building LGBTQ cultural competency in consumer assistance programs associated with the Health Exchange; Priming and empowering a constituency with education and dialogue to prepare it to actively participate in Michigan’s Exchange.

9.        Outreach to the Small Business Community:

Business community and non-profit outreach is comprised of several different outreach components as well as a comprehensive presentations that cover many of the components within the ACA and the impact the it will have on small, medium and large businesses. One of the elements that has generated the most response is MCH’s ability to eliminate partisan hyperbole from the conversation and focus on the law as it stands at that current place and time. Due to the delivery of non-partisan information as well as the comprehensiveness of MCH’s business presentations, invitations to speak at conferences, seminars and community events is continuously growing. A sample of the presentations can be view on our YouTube channel here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hbu8g6yQeoM

10.       Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Project:

MCH is working to build awareness of the ACA and the expanded Medicaid program within Michigan’s SUD Community. By involving leaders and advocates from the SUD community in key implementation activities such as: the discussion on what a robust SUD benefit in the expanded Medicaid program would look like. More importantly MCH is making great strides in assisting the SUD community with building its own capacity to analysis policy and push for the legislative action they want to see. A short video summarizing the project can be viewed here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atqZf_nqJ2g

11.      The Well Community Project:

In conjunction with Urban Neighborhood Initiatives, MCH is working to improve the health, resilience, and quality of life of the Springwells Village Community in Southwest Detroit.  The Well Community Project is a collaboration between Samueli Institute, the Institute for Alternative Futures, and Community Initiatives and is funded by the Kellogg Foundation.  The main goal of the project is to foster physical and social wellness throughout Springwells Village. The project is heavily driven by community based participatory research.  Therefore, it involves the equitable inclusion of community members, and seeks to build upon the resources and knowledge within the community to address challenges and create sustainable and effective solutions. You can learn more about UNI here:http://unidetroit.org/