2007 ANNUAL REPORT

Chair of the Board - Norman Felker – MI Community Blood Centers
First Vice Chair - Khan Nedd, MD – Infusion Associates NE
Second Vice Chair - Jennifer VanSkiver – Rockford Construction Company
Treasurer – Lawrence Emig – Osceola County Commission
Secretary - Honorable Walter Urick – Retired Probate Judge

Health Expo celebrated its 26th event with a move to Woodland Mall. There were a total of 71 booths representing health care organizations serving West Michigan. Health Expo featured health screening activities and other health care services which included: about 600 flu shots, more than 427 blood typings, 18 pints of blood donated, 223 cholesterol tests and 223 blood sugar tests, 203 low cost laboratory blood tests, 370 tests for pulse oximetry, 138 hearing tests, 400 spinal screens and hundreds of blood pressure checks.

Silver Sponsors:
*Airway Oxygen*	*Michigan Community Blood Centers*		*Spectrum Health*
*Life EMS Ambulance*	*Novartis Pharmaceuticals*		*Sunset Association*
Bronze Sponsors:
Advance Newspapers Grand Rapids Ophthalmology Great Lakes Laboratory Network Health Care Associates & Community Care Givers Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services		Porter Hills Home Care Spectrum Health – Rehabilitation & Sports Medicine Spectrum Health Visiting Nurse Association Sunrise of Cascade Wright & Filippis
Special thanks to: Allegan-Ottawa-Kent County United Auto Workers CAP Council

The agency is involved on an ongoing basis with advisory boards of many organizations including FSU’s College of Allied Health Sciences, GVSU’s Kirkhof College of Nursing and College of Health Professions, ACSET Work Retention Network, Gerald R. Ford Job Corps Center, Grand Rapids African American Health Institute, Grand Valley Blood Program, Kent Health Plan, Kent County Early Childhood Initiative, Kent County Medical Reserve Corps, Michigan Health Insurance Access Advisory Council, Michigan Primary Care Consortium and several of the Standards Advisory Committees of the state’s Certificate of Need program.

The news media frequently requests input and comment on many health care issues, as evidenced by numerous articles and interviews.

The Alliance for Health website, www.afh.org, continues to provide a source of information about the agency including ongoing activities of its committees and work groups.

The Physician Advisory Group’s leadership in promoting quality, physician measurement and interconnectivity, resulted in the award of a Robert Wood Foundation Grant, entitled Aligning Forces for Quality and a grant from the state of Michigan’s Health Information Network to begin plans for a Health Information Exchange in West Michigan.

The West Michigan Nursing Advisory Council celebrated nurses during May with a gala attended by 300 nurses from throughout the region. Nursing schools in the region continue to increase the number of nursing graduates – 578 RNs graduated in 2006/07 compared to 295 in 2001/02. The emphasis for addressing the shortage is moving toward increasing faculty. WMNAC is collaborating with the Office of the Chief Nurse Executive for the State of Michigan to develop new strategies for training faculty. Another area of emphasis is re-defining the role of nursing, including newly emerging roles and career planning.

The Health Benefits Advisory Group organized the 3^rd Annual Chuck Zech Memorial Golf Outing. In addition, the group restated its mission as education. It plans to develop a series of articles about current health care coverage issues for publication on the Alliance for Health website. Members also agreed to be interviewed by the media on topics such individual market reform, HSAs and HRAs, health plan design, election campaign issues and more.

The West Central Michigan Health Care Regional Skills Alliance (RSA) was awarded WIRED Phase II funding based upon the Business Plan developed. A Health Care Employers Council was established to support employers in collectively addressing health care workforce issues and providing guidance to educators and workforce developers in allocating resources. This includes work on developing a regional forecasting methodology for health care jobs. The Health Care Education System Project identified the selection process (assessment & counseling) as a key element that has the potential to reduce dropout rates in education and for retaining employees. A Health Career Website Prototype was developed for testing with key audiences. Six Community Colleges and two Universities developed articulation agreements for general education requirements in allied health programs. The RSA also encouraged the development of an agreement that will enable nursing students to move seamlessly from Montcalm Community College’s associate degree program to the Bachelor of Science program at Ferris State University.

31 new contributing members joined the Alliance for Health in 2007, for a total of 225 contributors.

The 11^th annual gala and fundraiser, Once in a Blue Moon, returned to the Public Museum of Grand Rapids in March, raising $61,000. The third annual HILLMAN AWARD, in honor of dedication and commitment to continually improving our health care system, was presented to:

James Fahner, MD
Medical Health Care Advocate

David Van Andel
Community Health Care Advocate

Blue Cross Blue Shield and Blue Care Network of Michigan were Presenting Sponsors. Supporting sponsors included Holland Hospital, Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine, Saint Mary’s Health Care and Spectrum Health. The Grand Rapids Business Journal was print media sponsor. Corporate sponsors were:

ADAC Automotive	Lacks Enterprises
Advanced Radiology Services	Life EMS Ambulance
Airway Oxygen	Michigan Community Blood Centers
Alticor	Michigan Medical PC
Boyden	MPRO
Davenport University	North Ottawa Community Health System
Forest View Hospital	Paul Goebel Group
Grand Rapids Medical Education & Research Center	The Rehmann Group
Grand Valley Health Plan	Steelcase
Grand Valley State University	UAW Region 1-D
Hackley Hospital	David & Carol Van Andel Foundation
Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital	Van Andel Institute
Hospice of Michigan

Health Care Vision 2020 was established with a Governance Board to oversee the activities of eight new work groups. These work groups, made up of more than 150 volunteers, were recruited to develop and carry out the work plans for two new projects: Aligning Forces for Quality, supported by a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation three year grant and the West Michigan Health Information Exchange, supported by a state of Michigan Health Information Network one year planning grant. Additional staff and contract persons were brought on board to help facilitate the work of the groups and manage the projects. While different, the two projects have similarities in scope and involve the advancing the HHS Four Cornerstones of Value-Driven Health Care: 1) transparency of quality information, 2) transparency of price information, 3) adoption of interoperable health information standards, and 4) use of positive incentives that reward value in health care.

First Friday Forums provided an excellent opportunity for the community to explore current key health issues. The following 61 organizations sponsored the 19^th season:

The Evaluation Board handled 80 projects seeking a Certificate of Need. Proposals included significant hospital construction, new facilities and added beds for long-term care, replacement and upgrades for technology and new ambulatory care surgical centers. 14 substantive projects were endorsed, 1 was not endorsed, 22 non-substantive projects were endorsed, 12 files were closed with no review and 19 projects remained pending at year-end. The total capital expense proposed by these projects was $87,048,459.

The Planning Board continued to research critical health issues to report to the community. Topics under discussion and research this year included health care staffing shortages and barriers to care caused by cultural and language issues in the non-English speaking populations. A survey is being planned to gather information about difficulties caused by language barriers.

The West Michigan Business Group on Health conducted its Annual Survey of Employer Health Plan Costs in cooperation with The Employers’ Association. 233 West Michigan companies participated. The Business Group participated in the nationally recognized eValue8 program that originated locally in the early 1990’s. A partnership between businesses and health plans, HMOs and PPOs were evaluated and the annual Consumer Guide was updated. This year, health plans were rated for consumer health information programs, such as risk appraisal tools, stop smoking programs and electronic health records. In addition, plans were compared for adherence to cancer screening guidelines.