Nadia Syed, MPH, Community Benefit Program Coordinator
Michigan hospitals are committed to advancing the health of communities across the state. I’ve had the pleasure of supporting this work and fostering opportunities for statewide impact through the MHA Community Benefit Collaboratives.
A snapshot of updates from the MHA Community Benefit Collaboratives as of October 2026.
Since launching in 2025, 20 hospitals are focused on multi-year scalable projects that enhance maternal health, behavioral health and chronic disease. To support members with implementation and create space for collaboration, the MHA provides monthly sessions where members can share successes, challenges and receive individualized support. Below is a snapshot of the successes we’ve seen so far.
Members of the MHA Community Benefit Collaboratives shared that they appreciate the ongoing support and ability to learn practical strategies that can be adapted to meet the needs of their communities. Members also value learning from challenges other hospitals experience and noted that the collaboratives provide a safe space to test new strategies, learn from one another and identify approaches that can be successful in a variety of settings.
“Being able to partner with other people, go to sessions like these and just bounce ideas off each other and then ultimately being able to make that impact with all the information at the end of the day for our community,” said one collaborative member when asked about what they find most valuable. “It’s easy to be in your little bubble, but working with outside organizations is always a great opportunity.”
“Having the monthly meetings that were set throughout this collaborative was really helpful,” said another participant. “I think especially when, at the beginning of planning and implementing, there were some uncertainties around, ‘are we doing things right?’ so it was helpful to be able to come together and brainstorm with each other and hear what everybody is working on.”
Collaborative members underscored the importance of leadership buy-in when it comes to community benefit work. The MHA collaboratives support hospitals in positioning the value of community centered work.
“It made it an official project for senior leadership to understand, get behind and support,” said one collaborative participant. “It provided that bigger picture, that bigger context.”
Collaborative members continue to stress the importance of public and private partnerships to sustain community benefit work. Programming scaled through the collaboratives led to increased engagement in educational initiatives and helped hospital teams implement innovative ways to reach patients where they are.
“We’ve fostered a number of partnerships across the state, from schools and national associations to local businesses,” said Brent Mikkola, MBA, PMP, manager of Community Health, MyMichigan Health. “Meijer has been a key player when it comes to offering fresh produce vouchers and incentivized nutrition education, alongside other local grocers including SpartanNash, Save A Lot, and community farmers markets.”
The collaboratives support the development of programs that meet the needs of the community and improve overall health outcomes. Below are examples of work from Munson Healthcare and MyMichigan Health that are making a difference.
The teams at Munson Healthcare developed a digital nutrition program to help community members access healthy foods and nutrition education where they are. The virtual platform allows patients to receive food vouchers that can be redeemed at local grocery stores near their homes. In addition to food assistance, patients can enroll in a “Text for Tips” program, which provides monthly text messages featuring healthy recipes, nutrition tips and educational videos. 79 people are currently enrolled and Munson continues to expand their efforts while collecting patient experience data to understand how participants are using the resources and how the program can be improved.
MyMichigan Health invested in chronic disease programming to increase engagement in nutrition education and improve health metrics. MyMichigan Health teams implemented a variety of chronic disease prevention and management initiatives including the Pivio: Lifestyle Medicine Program and Kitchen Teaching Series. Pivio utilizes an evidence-based approach to prevent, treat and potentially reverse lifestyle related chronic conditions by helping participants establish healthy habits around nutrition, activity, sleep, social connection, risky substances, and stress management. The MyKitchen Teaching Series provides free nutrition education for improving heart health. The hybrid, 90-minute classes include both learning sessions and cooking demonstrations that help participants establish lifelong skills and habits. These programs have resulted in improvements in key health indicators.
The collaboratives continue until April of 2027, where members will convene for a final in-person meeting to review data and present their successes implementing these evidence-based programs. The MHA is also collecting program data in partnership with Public Policy Associates, an external evaluator, to demonstrate population level impacts.
To learn more about these collaboratives, be sure to check out the MHA Community Benefit Collaboratives webpage.
Phone: (517) 703-8601
Fax: (517) 703-0628
