On February 4, members of the WHI Steering Committee met with Governor Snyder’s chief of staff to share evidence and findings pertaining to Michigan proposed Medicaid’s expansion, the Healthy Michigan Plan. On February 7, Governor Snyder submitted his FY 2014 budget proposal to the state legislature, which included expanding Michigan’s Medicaid program. The Washtenaw Health … Read more
On November 8, Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States. Following the election, the future of the Affordable Care Act and the impact of potential health care changes on individuals’ access to health insurance was uncertain. CHRT, with input from WHI members, published a brief titled Potential Approaches to the … Read more
At an April 12 Steering Committee meeting, WHI leaders emphasized the need to recruit more community members and diversify leadership. Specifically, the WHI Steering Committee felt it was important to engage members of faith-based communities and representatives from Ypsilanti-based organizations.
On October 13th, the Frequent User Systems Engagement (FUSE) program surpassed its goal of housing 100 people by the end of 2015, with a total of 103 people housed. Representatives from Avalon Housing provided WHI leaders with updates about the project’s metrics and plans forward at the next Steering Committee meeting. The WHI would continue … Read more
At the September 15th meeting, CHRT staff and the Steering Committee discussed the future direction of the WHI. Meeting participants agreed that WHI members would like it to continue, that it was very valuable to the community, and that it played a unique role. Even though the first year of ACA enrollment was over, there … Read more
In 2013, WHI members contributed 6,323 hours working on WHI projects and teams. Membership grew from 94 people at the beginning of the year to 177 by the year’s end.
At a November 5th Steering Committee meeting, representatives from the Frequent Users System Engagement (FUSE) program presented the program to WHI leaders. Key FUSE architects—Laurie Ingram, Carol McCabe, and Megan Takashima—shared that the program’s goal was to house homeless individuals who frequently seek care in local emergency departments (ED). At this meeting, the FUSE team … Read more
In January 2013, the WHI’s Communications workgroup produced the first WHI newsletter. Stories described the launch of CareNet and the Blue Cross Complete Pilot and an update on the Reduced Fee Dental pilot. From this point on, the WHI would produce frequent newsletters to communicate the initiative’s work.
Over the past two years, the WHI received a series of funds to support its work. This included $30,000 from the St. Joseph Mercy Health System, $30,000 from the University of Michigan Health System, $12,315 from Washtenaw County United Way, $10,000 from Washtenaw County, $10,000 from the Ann Arbor City Council, $5,500 from the Ann … Read more
On November 27th, the WHI shared an accomplishments letter with community partners to highlight project milestones to date. The letter, which can be still be found on the website today, says “a key feature of the WHI is its voluntary nature. As of November 2012, more than 90 people participate voluntarily in WHI working groups. … Read more