Tag: Healthcare Leadership Award

The MHA announced the winners of its 2024 Healthcare Leadership Award June 27 during its Annual Membership Meeting. Each year, the MHA recognizes outstanding individuals who have provided exceptional leadership to healthcare organizations and to the health and well-being of the community. The 2024 recipients are Jawad Shah, MD, founder, president and CEO, Insight, Flint; and Harmony Gould, vice president of hospital & residential services, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services, Grand Rapids. The MHA will donate $1,000 on behalf of each award winner to the charity of their choice. These funds were provided to the MHA by the family of former MHA President H. Allen Barth.

Insight Health System has seen remarkable growth and innovation under Dr. Shah’s leadership since its inception in 2008. Starting with a humble team of four in Flint, Michigan, the organization now boasts more than 1,500 employees and extends its services across multiple states, profoundly impacting healthcare delivery and patient care.

Insight Health System manages a vast network, including the flagship Flint Medical Campus, which provides more than 216,000 patient services each year across a range of specialties such as neurosurgery, orthopedics and behavioral health. Following its acquisition and revitalization of the former Michigan Surgical Hospital, Dr. Shah spearheaded the transformation of the facility into the thriving Insight Surgical Hospital in Warren, achieving financial solvency within a year and increasing patient accounts by 520% in 2023.

The network expanded further in 2022 with the opening of Insight Dearborn, offering advanced outpatient services in orthopedics and mental health, among others. The organization’s reach also spans to Illinois and Iowa, reinforcing its mission to deliver exceptional, patient-centered healthcare.

Dr. Shah’s commitment extends beyond healthcare delivery to significant community involvement. He has been instrumental in establishing Insight Research Institute and Insight Behavioral Health Foundation. These entities recently pioneered the creation of Genesee County’s first medical-psychiatric hospital, slated to open in fall 2024, addressing urgent community needs in behavioral health.

In addition to his executive responsibilities, Dr. Shah contributes to the medical field as a Clinical Associate Professor at Michigan State University. Demonstrating his dedication to community service, he has generously directed the $1,000 monetary award to support Sylvester Broome Empowerment Village, further enriching the lives of those in the Flint area.

Gould’s commitment to patients is unwavering and is evident from the many programs and initiatives she has led at Pine Rest, including expansion and improvement projects. She developed and led the only behavioral health unit in West Michigan accepting individuals with a COVID-19 diagnosis, which was recognized as the 2022 recipient of the MHA Advancing Safe Care Award. Gould also led the opening of the Beachwood and Lotus programs, which are two residential units built as a response to an unmet need and at the request of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to alleviate the need for residential care settings for adults and adolescents throughout the state. The Beechwood Unit is a 12-bed crisis residential program offered as an alternative to inpatient psychiatric hospitalization for adults. And the Lotus unit is a 25-bed intensive residential program designed to treat adolescents with complex care needs.

Additionally, Gould oversaw an expansion of Pine Rest’s Adult Partial Hospitalization Program in response to community needs and is leading the team developing a crisis stabilization unit, which is a new license in Michigan resulting from her participation in the MHA’s Behavioral Health Integration Council. She is also a key member of the Pediatric Center Oversight team at Pine Rest, which is opening the Pediatric Center of Behavioral Health in 2026. Her efforts have also put patient experience at the forefront, spearheading several initiatives that bolster patient and family input into organizational processes and practices.

Not only is she committed to patients, but she has also been highly committed to employee satisfaction and organizational stability by her involvement in launching Pine Rest’s Great Place to Work Initiative, which asks employees at any level of the organization to submit ideas for improvements and then collaborate with peers and leaders to develop plans for implementation. She is also active with Network180 to collaborate with other stakeholders to enhance crisis response protocol. And as mentioned earlier she has been a catalyst by offering invaluable insights in the strategic work of the MHA’s Behavioral Health Integration Council. At Gould’s request, the $1,000 monetary portion of the award will go to the Pine Rest Foundation, specifically for the Pediatric Center of Behavioral Health campaign.

The MHA congratulates the winners of the 2024 MHA Healthcare Leadership Award.