MPHI has been named a winner for the prestigious Best Workforce Optimization Small to Medium Business Award at the 2016 inContact Mojo Awards! The awards, sponsored by Verizon, in partnership with Ovum recognize companies who encompass an “above and beyond” commitment to providing superior contact center experiences to their customers.

This recognition represents the true meaning of team collaboration.  Each individual working directly (PSS Staff) and indirectly (administration, technology, programming/scripting, business analysts, human resources, etc.)  with Provider Support Services has contributed to our ability in achieving this level of excellence and national recognition. I am blessed to have the privilege of leading this team.  Their creatively and commitment to excellence is truly inspirational.

This is the second year in a row our Provider Support Services team, led by Angela Crozier has been honored. This year’s award came from outstanding achievement implementing improvements to the overall operations of our department.

Michelle Napier-Dunnings is MPHI’s new Chief Communications Officer. She received her Masters from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Michelle brings her extensive background working with governmental agencies, educational institutions, businesses, and non-profits and was formerly the Director of Education at Michigan State University’s Wharton Center for Performing Arts.  Michelle comes to MPHI as the Executive Director of Michigan Food and Farming Systems (MIFFS), working to connect all of her previous networks to the changing world of regional and equitable food systems.

Michelle is also the co-author of the book: Trust-Building: An Experiential Approach.

Dr. Marijata Daniel-Echols is the Director of the Center for Health Equity Practice. Dr. Daniel-Echols received her Ph.D. from the University of Michigan and was formerly the CEO of The Early Childhood Investment Corporation. Her extensive background in research, policy and evaluation bring a wealth of expertise to MPHI.

The Center helps those who work in the field of public health understand health equity, social justice, and the social determinants of health so that they can work together in ways that reduce the likelihood that people are disadvantaged because of their race, class, or gender.

The Commission to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities (CECANF) recently released its final report, Within Our Reach: A National Strategy to Eliminate Child Abuse and Neglect Fatalities. Established by the Protect Our Kids Act of 2012, CECANF was charged by the president and Congress to lead a national dialogue on child abuse and neglect fatalities, which included a two-year process of review, research, and public hearings. Teri Covington, Senior Program Director of MPHI’s National Center for Fatality Review and Prevention, served on the Commission as a White House appointee. You can read the report here: https://eliminatechildabusefatalities.sites.usa.gov/files/2016/03/CECANF-final-report.pdf

MPHI Events Planner Anissa Damon, was recently awarded the 2015 Planner of the Year by the Michigan Chapter of the Society of Government Meeting Professionals. She was chosen for the award by her peers for her dedication and contributions to the organization. This is the second year that Anissa has received this honor; she was also awarded Planner of the Year in 2009. In addition to the awards that she has received form the Michigan Chapter of the Society of Government Meeting Professionals, Anissa was awarded Michigan’s Finest Meeting Planner at the Michigan Chapter of Meeting Professionals International in 2014. Anissa currently works as an Events Planner II at MPHI.

Michigan has received $70 million in federal funding from 2015-2019 to support innovative health care system enhancements that benefit families. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will fund the testing of Michigan’s “Blueprint for Health Innovation,” a plan that guides the state as it pursues better coordination of care, lower costs, and improved health outcomes. Special attention is being paid to building linkages to safety-net settings, integrating primary care and behavioral health, engaging populations, promoting person-centered care, reducing population health risks, and coordinating human services and health care to address social determinants. The Blueprint calls for prioritizing improvement efforts for three target populations: at-risk pregnant women, high utilizers of Emergency Departments, and people with multiple chronic conditions.

The funding will support multi-payer payment and health care delivery system transformation to improve health system performance and reduce costs. The model also recognizes that better health requires a comprehensive approach involving safe and healthy communities, workplaces, homes and lifestyles. Efforts will be concentrated on establishing effective Accountable Systems of Care and Community Health Innovation Regions that advance these goals, as described in the Blueprint.

MPHI previously assisted the State in developing the Blueprint by engaging partners, convening workgroups, helping to identify common ground, and supporting the drafting of the document itself. MPHI will continue to support the State in project implementation. This includes developing key program materials and supporting participating Accountable Systems of Care and Community Health Innovation Regions in achieving success.

Additional details are available at:
http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,4612,7-132-2945_64491—,00.html

MPHI Senior Project Coordinator Doak Bloss was recently honored as Michigan Universal Health Care Access Network’s “Health Care Hero 2015.” He received the award in recognition of his work developing and implementing a curriculum to teach cultural diversity skills and for providing leadership to the “Power to Thrive” and “Place Matters” movements in Michigan. Bloss previously served as Ingham County Health Department’s health equity and social justice coordinator, and is currently coordinating MPHI’s Center for Health Equity.

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announced $5 million in new and continuing competitive grant awards to support Family to Family Health Information Centers. The state-wide centers are staffed by trained family leaders who themselves have children with special health care needs and are linked to health professionals providing care. Centers provide education, training, peer support, and expertise in navigating federal, state and local public and private health care systems.

MPHI provides the infrastructure and technical support needed for the Michigan Family to Family Health Information Center to serve as a centralized resource for information and education for families of children and youth with special health care needs and the professionals who work with them.

The Illinois Public Health Institute, in partnership with the Michigan Public Health Institute, was recently selected by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to serve as the National Coordinating Office (NCO) for a new initiative to foster multi-sector information systems to improve community health.

Connections among public health, health care, human services and other sectors can improve communities’ capacity for planning, prioritizing, monitoring, innovation, and rapid response for healthier and more resilient populations. Data Across Sectors for Health (DASH) aims to identify and share learnings to move the field toward action.

DASH will identify barriers, opportunities, promising practices and indicators of progress for multi-sector collaborations to connect information systems and share data for community health improvement. The DASH National Coordinating Office will execute activities that support those collaborations and the field:

• Monitoring the environment, including an environmental scan to document existing and emerging multi-sector collaborations, and developing indicators of progress for the field
• Providing technical assistance and facilitating collaborative learning to support grantees and other stakeholders in the field
• Communicating lessons learned, promising practices, barriers, opportunities, and indicators of progress among grantees and with stakeholders across the nation
• Convening a DASH advisory group of thought leaders to provide guidance on the selection of grantees, expertise on emerging research, and input on communications to the field
• Networking across various sectors, leaders, partners, grantees, and stakeholders to build relationships within the field and connect grantee collaborations to expertise and resources

DASH’s immediate focus is to develop a deeper understanding of the field. The environmental scan will identify existing and emerging multi-sector collaborations and develop indicators of progress for the field through a literature review, key informant interviews and a survey. If you would like more information about the environmental scan or other DASH activities, please contact DASH@iphionline.org.

Evaluation Specialist Jennifer Torres’ article “Expertise and Sliding Scales: Lactation Consultants, Doulas, and the Relational Work of Breastfeeding and Labor Support” has been published in the April 2015 issue of Gender and Society, the peer-reviewed journal of the Sociologists for Women in Society. View article.

She has also written a blog post for Gender and Society, “Lactation Consultants, Doulas, and the Negotiation of Paid Caring.” It is available here: Gender and Society

Jennifer joined MPHI in July 2014. As an evaluation specialist in the Institute’s Center for Healthy Communities, her work focuses on maternal health, healthy development, and tribal health and wellness. Her peer-reviewed publications primarily cover the topics of gender studies, reproductive and sexual health, and the sociology of health and illness.