Northern Michigan Health Consortium

The Northern Michigan Health Consortium (nmhc) provides organizational support for the Northern Michigan community Health innovation region (chir), a 31-county region. This is done through community connections, a clinical community linkages (ccl) network, and mi-thrive community Health needs assessment and improvement initiative. The chir focuses on removing barriers to social determinates of Health, like access to Health care, affordable housing, healthy food, and transportation options, working at individual, sector, and system levels in pursuit of its mission to improve population Health, increase Health equity, and reduce unnecessary medical costs through partnerships and system change. The chir's certified clinical community linkages (ccl) network provides one-on-one navigation assistance in 31 counties through six hubs, each operated by a different local Health department through a contract with nmhc. In fy23, the chir received 4,326 referrals. The top five reasons for referral to navigation services were housing, food security, utilities, medical care cost/health insurance, and behavioral/mental Health. The chir leads community Health needs assessment (chna) every three years to quantify issues in the community by collecting primary and secondary data, including ccl client data, on behalf of local Health departments, hospitals, and other community partners. Using the best practice chna framework, a diverse mi-thrive design team created and implemented plans for compiling 100 secondary indicators by county and collecting primary data through surveys and community wide meetings. Altogether, over 5,000 residents and community partners participated in one or more chna activities.

The Northern Michigan Health Consortium (nmhc) launched a media campaign to increase awareness and understanding of public Health across 31 counties of Northern Michigan. Nmhc, in collaboration with, macdonald garber broadcasting and next day animations, created a marketing campaign that focused on a community connections explainer video, public Health vignettes/explainer video, and related social media advertising and posts. In addition, regional community listening sessions were launched that focused on identifying community strengths and assets related to chronic disease resilience; documenting regional and neighborhood barriers and challenges that prevent or lower access to nutritious food and a healthy build environment and solicit guidance from selected expert collaborative partners than can refine policy and program recommendations.