The African American Family Resource Information Center And Network, AFRICAN, was an intervention focused on reducing the significant racial disparity in infant mortality within Genesee County: At more than 22 deaths per
1,000 live births when AFRICAN was launched, African American infant mortality was the highest in the State of Michigan, and almost three times the mortality rate for non-African Americans. AFRICAN was created upon the Coalition’s receipt of a three-year funding award by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s (HRSA) “Closing the Gap” Initiative.
Local data show that African American women receive less pre-conceptual and prenatal care, and that they lack information and support for breastfeeding, Safe Sleep, and infant development once their babies are born. While adequate maternal and infant resources exist in the county, they have historically been underutilized and difficult to access in a coordinated manner given many life issues affecting high risk, expectant, and new mothers.
The AFRICAN project was not created to provide direct services—rather, it served the community by coordinating existing material and child health programs, helping families navigate the system, and identifying and addressing systemic gaps. Callers to the AFRICAN telephone hotline received information and referrals as well as follow-up to ensure their needs were met. The center also served as a source for healthcare providers seeking information on the community’s programs and resources.
AFRICAN operated successfully for two years, serving more than 1,600 individuals and families, and providing information and referrals to appropriate health care, educational, and support programs. The Coalition partnered with three community-based organizations—Faith Access to Community Economic Development (F.A.C.E.D.), Flint Family Road, and Flint Odyssey House Health Awareness Center—to support the AFRICAN Project.
During that time, the county’s African American infant mortality rate dropped from 22 deaths per 1,000 births to 15.2 per 1,000. In April 2007, the program received an Outstanding Achievement in Advocacy Award from the Michigan Council for Maternal and Child Health.
In September 2007, the project closed its doors due to the end of its funding.
Acute Myocardial Infarction (AMI) Guidelines Applied in Practice (GAP) Project 2001 – 2003
With appropriate intervention and treatment, survival rates can be significantly improved for patients who suffer an acute myocardial infarction. Targeting five Mid-Michigan hospitals, the Coalition—in partnership with the American College
of Cardiology (ACC), the Michigan Peer Review Organization (MPRO), and the five Flint/Saginaw hospitals—developed a program to promote use of the latest cardiovascular science in the treatment of heart attack patients.
Called Guidelines Applied in Practice: Quality Improvement in Acute Myocardial Infarction Care (AMI-GAP), the initiative focused on improving adherence to clinical practice guidelines for the care of myocardial infarction patients. A toolkit containing AMI standard orders, a clinical pathway, pocket guide card, patient information and discharge forms, chart stickers, and hospital performance charts, was distributed to the five participating hospitals. Outcomes were measured by quality indicators that tracked the application of set guidelines.
Results of this initiative were impressive. With AMI standard admission orders in place, a statistically significant improvement for heart attack patients receiving aspirin within 24 hours of admission increased from 81% to 93%, and measurement of LDL cholesterol levels rose from 64% to 82%. When AMI discharge documents were used, the percentage of patients given aspirin and beta blockers at discharge improved from 84% to 98%, and 89% to 100%, respectively. In addition, rates for smoking cessation counseling, dietary counseling, and cholesterol treatment all improved dramatically after the initiative.
AMI-GAP was a successful, evidence-based program that closed the gap between what is known to be good medicine and what is actually practiced in the field, decreased the cost of care, and improved the quality of people’s lives. The results of the project made national headlines, and the outcomes achieved are emerging as standards by which Centers of Excellence are compared nationwide. It also was a significant accomplishment for the Coalition because it was the first time hospital activities had expanded beyond the three local hospitals in Genesee County.
Regional Health Information Exchange (HIE) Steering Committee
In November 2005, the GFHC and its broad‐based member organizations began evaluating opportunities and community interest in exploring the potential to develop a regional health information exchange (HIE). As GFHC partner discussions continued, members of the GFHC participated in the development of the Michigan Health Information Network’s (MiHIN) Conduit to Care Report and in February 2007, the GFHC applied for and received a regional HIE planning grant from the Michigan Department of Community Health. The objective of the 18-month planning project was to develop a feasible plan for the implementation, operation, and sustainability of a regional HIE in the state-designated Genesee Medical Trading Area of Genesee, Lapeer, and Shiawassee Counties that will follow adopted standards and demonstrate how quality of care will be improved in the communities involved.
Specific activities of the regional HIE Planning Project include:
To identify among regional healthcare stakeholders interest, capabilities, and support for a HIE;
To create a sustainable business plan for the HIE that includes sources for future funding;
To identify the types of information initially and in the long-term that will be shared through the HIE;
To educate the community, healthcare providers, and other pertinent stakeholders on the purpose and benefits of the HIE;
To develop solutions that 1.) facilitate the identification, correlation, linking, searching, and access to patient-centric information; 2.) accommodate the sharing of information originating from numerous disparate systems, in multiple formats, and via a variety of technologies; 3.) account for scalability of the HIE as new providers, systems, and geographic areas are broadened; and 4.) ensure the most stringent privacy and security controls are in place to protect consumer privacy;
To design the HIE for interaction with public health reporting; and
To provide for interfacing with other HIEs in other Michigan regions.
While the GFHC’s 18-month regional HIE planning grant from the Michigan Department of Community Health ended in December 2008, Coalition leadership continues to evaluate opportunities to move into the implementation phase locally while collaborating with the Michigan Department of Community Health as it refines its statewide approach to implementing sustainable health information exchange(s).
In the Fall of 2011, the three Genesee County health systems – Genesys Health System, McLaren Flint, and Hurley Medical Center made a joint announcement of a shared regional health information exchange strategy in partnership with Michigan Health Connect (now Great Lakes Health Connect).
Currently, hospital, health plan, and physician organization partners from the Genesee County area and surrounding regions collaborate to improve health information exchange functionality and adoption in partnership with Great Lakes Health Connect, now the largest HIE in Michigan and one of the largest HIEs in the nation.
Interested partners or providers who want to learn more can contact the GFHC by email at gfhc@flint.org for more information.
The Diabetes Group Visit Project Workgroup seeks to reduce the morbidity and mortality experienced by Genesee County residents who have diabetes or another chronic disease while improving their quality of life with regards to their medical condition. The Workgroup promotes the utilization of clinical best practices such as the group visit model of care and chronic disease registries as strategies to improve patient education, access to care, disease self-management, and patient outcomes as well as to lower the costs of care and increase provider productivity.
The Workgroup has created a variety of resources to assist healthcare providers in implementing group visits with an emphasis on the treatment of diabetes and obesity. The Workgroup has also designed a HIPAA-compliant web-based diabetes registry that is available at no-cost to Genesee County providers.
Project Healthy Schools is a middle-school based program (originally developed by the University of Michigan in 2004) that is designed to reduce childhood obesity and its long-term consequences. The program encourages life-long healthy habits through education, environment change, and measurement. Commit to Fit, a community-wide health behavior improvement program that is now being utilized by over 340 different organizations in Genesee County, has created a new partnership program with Project Healthy Schools. Together, the GFHC’s Commit to Fit! Project Healthy Schools Program provides middle-school focused education and environmental change that is evidence-based, while offering health resources, incentives an interactive behavior tracking website, and much more to middle schools.
Commit to Fit! Project Healthy School Goals:
Eat more fruits and vegetables
Be physically active at least 150 minutes each week
Eat less fast and fatty foods
Choose better beverages
Spend less mindless time in front of a screen
As a part of Project Healthy Schools implementation in Genesee County/Flint, students are able to monitor their health behaviors via the Commit to Fit! website, www.commit2fit.com.
Goals emphasized are:
Hands-on learning activities for 6th and 7th graders
A Healthy Habits Commit to Fit! Challenge to encourage achievement of healthy goals and earn healthy incentives through a fun competition between classes
School-wide wellness activities and events
An end of year event with a focus on physical activity
Healthier food service and beverage options
Bulletin board displays promoting wellness
Communication with staff and families
Formation of a school wellness team
Project Healthy Schools was originally developed by the University of Michigan Health System. In Genesee County/Flint, the Great Flint Health Coalition has launched Project Healthy Schools in partnership with Commit to Fit at Grand Blanc West Middle School, Grand Blanc East Middle School, Carman Ainsworth Middle School, Armstrong Middle School, Mt. Morris, and St. John Vianney. Multiple local partners have also assisted with implementation.
If your school district is interested in implementing Project Healthy Schools, please contact the GFHC today via email at gfhc@flint.org, subject Project Healthy Schools.
To assist primary care practices with disease management, patient education, patient centered medical home (PCMH) requirements, meaningful use, and physician incentive payments, the Greater Flint Health Coalition has created the Community Diabetes Registry to track and monitor data to improve the care of patients with diabetes.
The Community Diabetes Registry is a free, HIPAA-compliant, web-based database that captures patient demographic and diabetes care measures. It allows for the identification, tracking, and monitoring of individuals with diabetes at the patient, provider, and practice level. The Community Diabetes Registry produces a number of valuable reports including:
Printed point of care patient reports to remind practitioners of needed tests and interventions as well as record keeping responsibilities
Printed patient progress reports or report cards to provide information and education about patient improvement or areas of concern
Exception reports to identify patients due for care and those whose results are not in acceptable ranges
Stratified population reports to look at patient outcomes for a provider or across a practice
Getting started with a registry requires a good amount of data entry. To assist practices in implementing the Community Diabetes Registry, the Greater Flint Health Coalition has secured limited resources to help practices with data entry.
For a demonstration of the Community Diabetes Registry or to learn more about integrating this free tool into your practice, please contact Lori Kunkel, Vice President of Programs at the Greater Flint Health Coalition by phone at (810) 232-2228 or email.
Currently, Genesee, Lapeer, and Shiawassee County hospital, health plan, and physician organization partners are strategically collaborating to improve health information exchange functionality and adoption in partnership with Great Lakes Health Connect, now the largest HIE in Michigan and one of the largest HIEs in the nation.
Interested partners or providers who want to learn more can contact the GFHC by email at gfhc@flint.org for more information.
Program History:
In November 2005, the GFHC and its broad‐based member organizations began evaluating opportunities and community interest in exploring the potential to develop a regional health information exchange (HIE). As GFHC partner discussions continued, members of the GFHC participated in the development of the Michigan Health Information Network’s (MiHIN) Conduit to Care Report and in February 2007, the GFHC applied for and received a regional HIE planning grant from the Michigan Department of Community Health. The objective of the 18-month planning project was to develop a feasible plan for the implementation, operation, and sustainability of a regional HIE in the state-designated Genesee Medical Trading Area of Genesee, Lapeer, and Shiawassee Counties that will follow adopted standards and demonstrate how quality of care will be improved in the communities involved.
Specific activities of the regional HIE Planning Project include:
To identify among regional healthcare stakeholders interest, capabilities, and support for a HIE;
To create a sustainable business plan for the HIE that includes sources for future funding;
To identify the types of information initially and in the long-term that will be shared through the HIE;
To educate the community, healthcare providers, and other pertinent stakeholders on the purpose and benefits of the HIE;
To develop solutions that 1.) facilitate the identification, correlation, linking, searching, and access to patient-centric information; 2.) accommodate the sharing of information originating from numerous disparate systems, in multiple formats, and via a variety of technologies; 3.) account for scalability of the HIE as new providers, systems, and geographic areas are broadened; and 4.) ensure the most stringent privacy and security controls are in place to protect consumer privacy;
To design the HIE for interaction with public health reporting; and
To provide for interfacing with other HIEs in other Michigan regions.
While the GFHC’s 18-month regional HIE planning grant from the Michigan Department of Community Health ended in December 2008, Coalition leadership continues to evaluate opportunities to move into the implementation phase locally while collaborating with the Michigan Department of Community Health as it refines its statewide approach to implementing sustainable health information exchange(s).
In the Fall of 2011, the three Genesee County health systems – Genesys Health System, McLaren Flint, and Hurley Medical Center made a joint announcement of a shared regional health information exchange strategy in partnership with Michigan Health Connect (now Great Lakes Health Connect).
