Legislation on physician assistant licensure compact agreements, international medical school graduates, hospital price transparency measures and medical debt collection advanced in the Michigan House and Senate during the week of Nov. 10. In the House …
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently released a final rule to update the physician fee schedule for calendar year (CY) 2026. Highlights of the final rule include: Implementing the one-time 2.5% …
U.S. Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) recently co-sponsored H.R. 3684, the Save America’s Rural Hospitals Act of 2025, which would strengthen financial stability and access to care for rural hospitals and healthcare providers across the country. …
The MHA Board of Trustees’ Nov. 12 meeting featured presentations from board members Ed Ness, president and CEO, Munson Healthcare; Lydia Watson, president and CEO, MyMichigan Health; and Karen Cheeseman, president and CEO, Mackinac Straits …
The MHA recently released the infographic Healthcare Impact in Rural Michigan, which highlights how critical access hospitals, sole community hospitals, rural emergency hospitals and birthing hospitals support communities across the state. The infographic highlights the …
The MHA’s Endorsed Business Partner program promotes industry-leading firms. The EBP program connects member hospitals to solutions that alleviate pain points. The MHA recently endorsed SmarterDx, a national leader in revenue integrity solutions, offering advanced clinical …
The MHA will host an informational webinar from noon to 12:45 p.m. Nov. 24 featuring 211, in the first session of the Health Access & Community Impact Office Hours series. The series is designed to …
As a healthcare leader, physician and someone born and raised in the Thumb of Michigan, National Rural Health Day is very personal to me, my colleagues and the communities we serve every day at Scheurer Health. …
Keckley Report
Why Healthcare Affordability is Increasingly Problematic to Working Age Populations
In what political pundits called a sweeping win by Democrats in Tuesday’s elections, affordability and costs of living emerged as the issues that mattered most to voters. It’s no surprise.
Since 2019 before the pandemic, prices have increased for American businesses and households due to inflation:
Personal Consumption Expenditures inflation which measures monthly business spending increased 3.5% annually. The Consumer Price Index, which measures monthly changes in household spending increased 3.87% annually over the same period (2019-2025).
But in the same period, prices for healthcare services–hospitals, physician services, insurance premiums and long-term care–have taken an odd turn: for businesses, they’ve decreased but for consumers, they increased. It reflects the success whereby businesses have shifted health benefits costs to employees or suspended benefits altogether, and it explains why consumers are bearing more direct responsibility for healthcare costs and are increasingly price sensitive. …
Healthcare service providers can ill afford to neglect affordability. It more than measuring medical debt, posting prices and referencing concern on websites. It’s about earning the trust and confidence of future generations through concrete actions that increase household financial security beginning with healthcare spending. …”
Paul Keckley, Nov. 9, 2025
MHA members are encouraged to register for the webinar How Leading Health Systems Are Rebuilding Talent Pipelines — and Keeping Them Full Through Early Student Loan Support, led by Clasp, scheduled from 9 to 9:30 a.m. Dec. 2.
9&10 News aired a story Nov. 11 about how health insurance rate increases will lead to lower health insurance enrollment, harming healthcare access. MHA CEO Brian Peters is quoted in the story expressing the need …
The National Alliance for Caregiving will host the webinar “Practical Methods for Integrating Caregivers into Care Delivery” from 1 to 2 p.m. ET May 27, highlighting how hospitals and health systems are embedding caregivers into care models across settings and patient populations.
Joshua Suire, MHA, BSN, RN, director, safety and quality, MHA Keystone Center, will serve as a featured speaker during the national webinar. Suire will share insights from the Michigan Caregiver Navigation Toolkit pilot, including how Michigan organizations are designing and testing practical strategies to identify, assess and support family caregivers in routine care. 
