Updates About Executive Office Announcements

Under Executive Order 2022-11, Governor Gretchen Whitmer created the Center for Data and Analytics, housed in the Department of Technology, Management and Budget (DTMB).

Funded in the Fiscal Year 2022-23 budget, the Center for Data and Analytics is tasked with providing data- and evidence-driven strategies to all state departments and agencies. State department and agency heads are to coordinate with the center to facilitate data sharing. If there are cases where data is prohibited from being shared, a written notice must be provided.

The Executive Office hopes the new Center will allow for the state to “better understand economic, social, and demographic trends and make evidence-based policy decisions that improve lives”.

On Friday, July 15, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Executive Order 2022-5, which creates the Michigan Parents Council – an advisory body housed within the Michigan Department of Education. The Council must include a diverse representation of seven parents, guardians or family members appointed by the Governor, as well as a representative appointed by the state superintendent, and the Governor’s K-12 policy advisor.

The Council will be charged with convening regional roundtable discussions covering, at a minimum, strategies, and approaches for combating unfinished learning and supporting children’s mental health. Themes and ideas gleaned from the discussions will help inform policy recommendations in the Governor’s next budget recommendation.

A report must be submitted by December 9, 2022. The council will dissolve on March 1, 2023.

On May 2, Governor Gretchen Whitmer announced that Michigan’s Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies initiative, in part to expand Medicaid postpartum coverage to a full 12 months, was approved by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

Under current federal requirements, Medicaid enrollees receive coverage for 60 days postpartum. Expanding coverage to a full year is intended to allow pregnant people, and their newborns, to have access to necessary health services, such as behavioral, dental, and substance use services. The extension also promotes the completion of postpartum depression screening.

In 2018, Michigan’s Maternal Mortality Surveillance (MMMS) Committee found that almost 50% of maternal deaths in the state were preventable and there was a persistent racial disparity among these deaths.

In Michigan, this expansion is expected to benefit approximately 35,000 pregnant and postpartum people annually.