Tag: AI

The MHA Council on Health Access and Community Impact held its final meeting of the program year June 4 to examine emerging opportunities and challenges shaping healthcare delivery and advancing community health.

The meeting opened with council member storyboards highlighting the realities of delivering care across large rural service areas. Members learned about strategies to expand care closer to home, strengthen community partnerships and address key community needs through initiatives focused on food access, behavioral health services and street medicine programs. The discussion reinforced the importance of regional collaboration and elevating rural health perspectives in statewide efforts.

The MHA advocacy team provided an update on state and federal policy developments. Discussions centered on healthcare affordability proposals, ongoing state budget negotiations, Medicaid funding uncertainty and the potential impacts of federal legislation on healthcare coverage and hospital financing. The council also received an operational update on the launch of the MHA Center of Rural Excellence, a new MHA entity designed to strengthen advocacy and coordination for Michigan’s rural hospitals. Members discussed opportunities to align council priorities with the Rural Health Transformation Program and support efforts that improve health outcomes in rural communities.

A featured presentation from MyMichigan Health explored the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI), patient safety and improving care for all patients. Members learned how AI is being used to improve documentation, reduce administrative burden, strengthen patient communication and enhance quality reporting. The presentation emphasized that successful AI adoption requires strong governance, organizational readiness and ongoing evaluation to ensure technology improves care quality for all patient populations without introducing unintended bias.

The deep-dive discussion focused on the Quality Improvement Think Tank, one of three council-led workgroups focused on developing actionable frameworks, workflow strategies and implementation roadmaps to support scalable improvements in quality improvement, patient experience, community engagement and care integration. The group is advancing a framework and toolkit designed to better integrate quality and safety initiatives that improve patient outcomes. Early findings identified challenges related to data limitations, inconsistent processes and sustaining improvement efforts over time. The emerging framework emphasizes strengthening quality and safety through enhanced governance, accountability and the intentional use of data and lived experience to guide continuous improvement.

The meeting concluded with a roundtable discussion on using data dashboards to identify opportunities to improve health outcomes across patient populations. Members shared strategies for leveraging real-time and stratified data to identify trends and inform targeted interventions. Case examples and national best practices reinforced the importance of pairing data insights with action while acknowledging ongoing challenges related to data quality, standardization and workforce engagement.

As the council begins the new program year, it will continue identifying opportunities to strengthen strategies that improve health outcomes in the communities members serve.

Members with questions about the council’s work should contact Ewa Panetta at the MHA.