Updates About Public Health

More than a dozen organizations, foundations, and associations including the Michigan Coalition on Maternal and Child Health have joined together to form Michigan for Vaccines, a coalition focused on vaccine education, awareness, and policy advocacy.

Coalition members said the effort comes amid declining immunization rates and growing opposition to vaccines, combined with federal policy changes on vaccine recommendations. Advocates pointed to recent increases in vaccine-preventable diseases, including measles and whooping cough, as a clear reason for establishing the the statewide coalition.

See their official press release for more information and a full list of coalition members.

Below is the full list of RHTP Advisory Council Members:

• Alan Bolter, Community Mental Health Association
• Andrea Wendling, M.D., Michigan State University College of Human Medicine, Boyne Area Medical Center (affiliated with Munson Healthcare Charlevoix Hospital)
• Andrew Chosa, Upper Peninsula Health Care Solutions
• Angela Madden, Michigan Association of Ambulance Services
• April Kay Osburn, Central & Western Area Health Education Center / Central Michigan University
• Catherine A. Macomber, Saginaw Valley State University
• Crystal Barter, Michigan Center for Rural Health
• Elise Marie Bur, Northern Michigan University
• Heidi Britton, Northwest Michigan Health Services, Inc.
• Jeremy Cannon, Kalkaska Memorial Health Center
• Julie Kay Yaroch, D.O., ProMedica
• Kim Bachelder, Michigan Health Information Network (MiHIN)
• Lauren LaPine, Michigan Hospital Association
• Megan Murphy, Superior Health Foundation
• Nicholas Cushman, Indian Health Service / University of Michigan College of Pharmacy
• Phillip Berquest, Michigan Primary Care Association
• Robert Walter Mach, Schoolcraft Memorial Hospital
• Sarah Oleniczak, Northern Michigan Community Health Innovation Region / District Health Department #10
• Stephanie Winslow, PACE Association of Michigan
• Wilbert Morris, Sanilac County Community Mental Health Authority

More info about the RHTP can be found here.

Last week, the Michigan Senate passed a bipartisan bill package offering relief for Michiganders with medical debt. SB 449, SB 450, and SB 451, championed by Senators Sarah Anthony (D-Lansing) and Jonathan Lindsey (R-Coldwater), passed with substantial support across both political caucuses. The bills would require hospitals to implements financial assistance plans for managing a patient’s medical debt and would change rules that currently allow for what critics say is aggressive debt collection.

Two related bills introduced by Anthony and Lindsey also passed unanimously last week. SB 701 and SB 702 would provide protections for patients by establishing maximum interest rates for medical debt and removing excessive late fees on medical debt for a minimum of 90 days after a patient receives their final invoice. The bills would also prohibit debt collectors and healthcare facilities from having a patient arrested, garnishing their wages, or foreclosing on their home as a means of collecting medical debt.

All five bills were subsequently referred to the House Health Policy committee.