Health Data
Health DataThe MHA believes that data can improve patient care, reduce costs and make healthcare more efficient. This section includes data used to inform MHA’s policy and advocacy initiatives and resources that can help hospitals and health systems use data to improve their operations.
Behavioral Health Boarding Survey
The United States is facing a behavioral health crisis and Michigan is no exception. There are record numbers of behavioral health patients waiting in hospital emergency departments (ED) throughout the state for an available hospital bed. However, Michigan lacks the necessary number of behavioral healthcare workers and treatment facilities to meet the demand of patients needing inpatient care. Not only are behavioral health patients not receiving the care they need in an appropriate setting, but it causes a series of complex problems for hospitals, ranging from increased wait times for patients in the emergency department to inadequate reimbursement. The MHA aims to bring awareness to the issue and pursue legislation to ease the burden on member hospitals and health systems while getting behavioral health patients the care they need.
Boarding occurs when a behavioral health patient waits in an ED or another unit until a behavioral health bed is available. The MHA started collecting data in March 2023 on ED boarding on a weekly basis from member hospitals and health systems. Hospitals and health systems provide data on the number of patients waiting to receive a behavioral health evaluation and the total number of patients boarding in an ED awaiting an inpatient psychiatric bed.
The MHA will be sharing the data that is collected in aggregate on a weekly basis.
Should the survey be completed by a hospital or health system? Why is this important?
A separate survey response should be completed for each hospital in the health system (e.g., for seven hospitals within one system, seven separate surveys should be completed). Having each hospital within a health system complete this survey allows for varying demographics and trends within the data to be identified and accounted for. However, one individual can complete multiple surveys on behalf of several locations.
Who should be completing the survey?
Preferably emergency department (ED) directors or management coordinators. Other roles within the hospital with available data may also complete the survey on a weekly basis.
When should the survey be completed?
The survey should be completed once a week on Mondays.
What is the standard definition of boarding for psychiatric patients?
Boarding describes patients who are (1) awaiting an evaluation in the ED, (2) evaluated in the ED but not admitted, or (3) evaluated but spending extensive time in inappropriate locations – whether in the ED or in another equally unsuitable place – while awaiting voluntary or involuntary psychiatric hospitalization. Overall, boarded patients are NOT formally admitted, and they are NOT patients in an inpatient bed.
We have a separate psych ED. Should we include those patients in the survey?
Please include these patients within the survey response if they are either waiting for an evaluation or waiting for a behavioral health bed, whether they are in the general ED or psych ED.
Are patients who are in the process of a transfer considered a boarded patient?
No, please do not include these patients in the survey response.
At what point in the process of medical clearance should a person be ‘counted’ in the survey?
When a patient needs a behavioral health bed but no behavioral health bed is available.
Members with questions about the survey should contact Lauren LaPine. Members with media questions should contact John Karasinski.
Healthcare Workforce Survey
Michigan hospitals are focused on solutions that build the healthcare workforce that patients need now and in the future. Significant investments are being made in the recruitment, retention and training of healthcare workers in Michigan. These investments are helping hospitals move in the right direction by filling the thousands of staffing vacancies in hospitals statewide.
The third annual MHA member workforce survey, which represents more than 95% of the MHA membership, shows the success of Michigan hospitals as they filled nearly 58,000 positions in 2024. Healthcare workers remain in high demand as Michigan hospitals have 23,000 open positions.
Hospitals filled nearly 58,000 positions in 2024.
Michigan hospitals are outperforming other states with an RN turnover rate of 14.1%, which is 2.3 percentage points lower than the national RN turnover rate average of 16.4% from NSI Nursing Solutions.
Hospitals are one of the largest employers in many Michigan communities. Collectively, they employ 222,000 full and part-time employees.
Visit our Healthcare Workforce webpage for more information.