Tag: MHA Meritorious Service Award

MHA Monday Report June 30, 2025

Member News, Monday Report

MHA Board of Trustees Holds Final Meeting of Program Year

The MHA Board of Trustees held its final meeting of the 2024-2025 program year on Mackinac Island June 25 in conjunction with the MHA Annual Membership Meeting. The meeting began with a welcome by the …

Opioid Legislation, IMLC and Compact Bills Advance in Senate, House

The Senate Health Policy Committee voted in support of legislation related to treating patients with opioid use disorder, while the House Health Policy advanced the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact (IMLC) bill during the week of …

Health & Hospital Association Elects 2025-2026 Officers and Board Members

Members of the MHA elected new officers and appointed board members during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting June 25. Officers of the 2025-2026 MHA Board of Trustees include Bill Manns, …

Hospital Executives Recognized for Outstanding Leadership

The MHA announced the winners of its 2025 Healthcare Leadership Award June 26 during its Annual Membership Meeting. Each year, the MHA recognizes outstanding individuals who have provided exceptional leadership to healthcare organizations and to …

Ludwig Community Benefit Award Honors Hospital Programs

The MHA announced the winners of its 2025 Ludwig Community Benefit Award during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting June 26. The honorees include programs supported by Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals St. Joseph Hospital; Lake Huron …

MHA Meritorious Service Award Recognizes Bob Riney

The MHA announced the 2025 winner of its highest achievement award June 26 during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting. Receiving the award for his decades of healthcare leadership is Bob Riney, president and CEO, Henry …

Healthcare Advocates Honored with MHA Special Recognition Award

The MHA announced four winners of its Special Recognition Award during the Annual Membership Meeting June 26, recognizing them for extensive contributions to healthcare. Each of the winners has uniquely influenced healthcare in Michigan. The …

Keckley Report

The U.S. Anxiety Pandemic

“The U.S. bombing of Iran’s nuclear capability is unsettling: whether MAGA or not, hawk or dove, young or old, conservative or liberal, rich or poor—it matters. Stability at home and abroad is utopian to some but desired by all. Pandemics, mass violence, natural disasters and even election results contribute to instability and lend to insecurity. Operation Midnight Hammer might contribute to the nation’s anxiety—time will tell. …

Nothing could be more timely and necessary to the Commission’s work than addressing mass anxiety and mental health as a national priority. And nothing is more urgently needed in communities than mainstreaming anxiety and mental health into the systems of health that accept full risk for whole person health.”

Paul Keckley, June 23, 2025

New to KnowNews to Know

  • MHA offices will be closed and no formal meetings will be scheduled July 4 in honor of Independence Day.
  • Due to the holiday, Monday Report will not be published July 7 and will resume its normal schedule July 14. Member alerts and MHA newsroom articles will continue to be published during that time to provide relevant updates to the MHA membership, as necessary.

 

MHA Meritorious Service Award Recognizes Bob Riney

Member News, News Releases
Bob Riney, president and CEO, Henry Ford Health, accepts the MHA Meritorious Service Award at the MHA Annual Meeting.

The MHA announced the 2025 winner of its highest achievement award June 26 during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting. Receiving the award for his decades of healthcare leadership is Bob Riney, president and CEO, Henry Ford Health, Detroit.

Riney is honored for his decades of healthcare leadership, which spans more than 45 years of service at Henry Ford Health. Riney has been instrumental in the growth of Henry Ford Health and its role serving communities throughout Michigan and beyond during his tenure. Riney’s career with Henry Ford Health began in 1978 as a college student and has since evolved into many executive roles, including chief operating officer, chief administrative officer and chief human resources officer. Following his appointment as CEO in 2022, Henry Ford Health has executed several large projects.

Riney spearheaded a joint venture agreement with Ascension Michigan hospitals, uniting the two major health systems across southeast Michigan. This grew Henry Ford Health from five to 13 acute care hospitals; approximately 33,000 to 50,000 team members; and 250 to more than 550 sites of care, while expanding access to advanced clinical care and cutting-edge research for communities throughout Michigan and beyond.

Riney has also been key in the creation of Destination: Grand, which completely reimagines the Henry Ford Hospital campus in Detroit to improve the patient experience and drive medical innovation. It will include a new 20-story, 1.2-million-square-foot hospital facility with all private patient rooms, a new emergency department more than double the size of the existing one, 28 operating rooms and its own central energy hub, positioning it as one of the largest fully electric-capable hospitals in the country.

His involvement with the MHA spans 25 years, including working on various committees and issues that focus on the healthcare workforce, patient safety and board governance. Riney served on the MHA Board of Trustees for 14 years, including as chair during the 2016-17 MHA program year.

Riney is a graduate of Wayne State University and a lifelong Detroiter. He remains active on many community boards, including the Alfred I. duPont Charitable Trust, Detroit Zoological Society, M1 Rail Transit Authority, The Parade Company, Hudson-Webber Foundation, Caymich Insurance Company, Detroit Regional Chamber, Business Leaders for Michigan, Downtown Detroit Partnership, Detroit Regional Partnership, The Detroit Economic Club and Motown Museum. In addition, Riney is the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference Chair.

MHA Monday Report July 1, 2024

Monday Report

MHA Board of Trustees Holds Final Meeting of Program Year

The MHA Board of Trustees held its final meeting of the 2023-2024 program year on Mackinac Island in conjunction with the MHA Annual Membership Meeting. At the meeting, the board recognized the success of the …

2025 State Budget Supports Key Healthcare Priorities

The Michigan Legislature approved the fiscal year 2025 state budget the week of June 24 which the governor is expected to sign into law next month. The budget proposal fully funds the Michigan Medicaid …

Health & Hospital Association Elects 2024-2025 Officers and Board Members

Members of the Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) elected new officers and appointed board members during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting June 26. Officers of the 2024-2025 MHA Board of Trustees include Julie Yaroch, …

Sen. Anthony and Rep. Witwer

Healthcare Advocates Honored with MHA Special Recognition Award

The MHA announced two winners of its Special Recognition Award during the Annual Membership Meeting June 27, recognizing them for extensive contributions to healthcare. Each of the winners has uniquely influenced healthcare in Michigan. The …

Dr. Loren Hamel speaks at the 2018 MHA Annual Meeting.

MHA Meritorious Service Award Recognizes Dr. Hamel

The MHA announced the 2024 winner of its highest achievement award June 27 during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting. Receiving the award for his decades of healthcare leadership is Loren Hamel, MD, president, Corewell Health …

Hospital Executives Recognized for Outstanding Leadership

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 …

Ludwig Community Benefit Award Honors Hospital Programs

The MHA announced the winners of its 2024 Ludwig Community Benefit Award during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting June 27. The honorees include programs supported by Corewell Health William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak; Insight Surgical …

Ascension St. John Hospital Receives MHA Advancing Safe Care Award

The MHA announced the winner of its 2024 Advancing Safe Care Award June 27, honoring the dedicated team at Ascension St. John Hospital in Detroit. The award was announced during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting. …

Favorable Federal Court Ruling Allows Hospitals to Continue to Offer Unaltered Public Websites

A United States District Court Judge in Texas issued a ruling June 20 on recent Department of Health and Human Services bulletins that restrict healthcare providers from using standard third-party web technologies that partially …

The Keckley Report

The CBO Health Insurance Status Report: Four Reasons it’s Overly Optimistic

“A close reading of this report suggests its forecast might be overly optimistic. it paints a best-case picture of health insurance coverage that under-estimates the realities of household economics and marketplace trends and over-estimates the value proposition promoted by health insurers to their customers. My conclusion is based on four trends that suggest coverage might slip more than the report suggests …

Thus, no one knows for sure what coverage will be in 2034 as presented in the CBO report. Its analysis appropriately considers medical inflation, population growth and an incremental shift to value-based purchasing in healthcare, but it fails to accommodate highly relevant changes in the capital markets, corporate insurer shareholder interests and voter sentiment.”

Paul Keckley, June 24, 2024

News to Know

  • MHA offices will be closed and no formal meetings will be scheduled July 4 and 5 in honor of Independence Day.
  • Due to the holiday, Monday Report will not be published July 8 and will resume its normal schedule July 15.
  • MHA Endorsed Business Partner ProCredEx will host a free 30-minute webinar for members on July 8 to discuss AI-Assisted Document Transform.

MHA CEO Brian Peters

MHA in the News

The MHA received media coverage the week of June 24 that includes coverage on cybersecurity, market consolidation, 340B and the fiscal year 2025 state budget. MLive published an article June 26 looking at the reason healthcare is the top target for cyberattacks.  …

MHA Meritorious Service Award Recognizes Dr. Hamel

Member News
Dr. Loren Hamel speaks at the 2018 MHA Annual Meeting.
Dr. Loren Hamel speaks at the 2018 MHA Annual Meeting.
Dr. Loren Hamel speaks at the 2018 MHA Annual Meeting.

The MHA announced the 2024 winner of its highest achievement award during the association’s Annual Membership Meeting June 27. Receiving the award for his decades of healthcare leadership is Loren Hamel, MD, president, Corewell Health in Southwest Michigan.

Hamel has been closely involved with the MHA for 18 years, highlighted by serving as MHA Board Chair for the 2017-18 program year. His tenure on the board lasted seven years and ended in 2019. He has continued serving in a leadership role as the co-chair of the MHA Public Health Taskforce since 2022. He also served on various MHA committees, councils and task forces, including the Legislative Policy Panel, the Safety & Quality Committee, the Strategic Planning Committee and the Task Force on Future Health Insurance Markets.

Dr. Hamel has been closely involved with healthcare in southwest Michigan, where he practiced medicine as a family physician for 23 years. He currently leads care delivery for three hospitals, 53 outpatient locations, telehealth initiatives and approximately 500 independent, affiliated and employed physicians in Southwest Michigan. Hamel also served as Chief Executive Officer of Lakeland Health for nine years and held various other executive roles with the organization prior to their integration with the former Spectrum Health in 2018 and his current position with Corewell Health.

Lakeland Health was formed through the integration of Watervliet Hospital, Southwestern Medical Clinic and Hospice at Home, which Dr. Hamel led. He also helped drive investments in several facilities that include the Pine Ridge Rehabilitation Center, Merlin and Carolyn Hanson Hospice Center and the Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals Marie Yeager Cancer Center. Corewell Health Lakeland Hospitals – St. Joseph Hospital also completed a 260,000-square-foot renovation and expansion in 2022.

In addition to his role as a healthcare executive, Dr. Hamel served his alma mater Andrews University in Berrien Springs in several roles, including as a clinical professor, director of the university’s health services, president of the alumni association and board member. Dr. Hamel retires from his role at Corewell Health June 30, 2024.