In 16 communities throughout the country, Aligning Forces for Quality seeks to lift the quality of health and health care by teaming up with those who get care, give care and pay for care. Explore what our communities are doing to improve health care quality.
West Michigan
West Michigan loves ... its Great Lake, the great outdoors and great health!
Leadership Team: Alliance for Health
Website: www.afh.org
Phone: (616) 248-3820
Fax: (616) 248- 9170
Program contact: Bob Parrish
Phone: (313) 492-6370
Email: Parrish53@aol.com
Want to learn more? Download the Community Snapshot.
Want to know what we've been up to? View our Snapshot of Success.
The Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) initiative in West Michigan is led by The Alliance for Health (the Alliance), a 60-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit membership corporation operating as a broad-based community health coalition. The Alliance represents those who receive care, give care and pay for care, including providers, citizens and employers, community organizations, government, organized labor, academic institutions and health plans. Its mission is encouraging optimal health for all through high quality health care services at the lowest cost.
The AF4Q work of the Alliance focuses on improving quality and efficiency, reducing disparities and using information as a foundation for provider quality improvement and consumer engagement. Consumer engagement entails influencing, inspiring and motivating consumers to become more active partners in their health care. The initiative aims to increase consumers’ understanding of what high-quality health care is—in general and within the context of diabetes, the Alliance’s first focus area—and to engage diabetes patients in evidence-based self-management activities to improve health and minimize the negative effects of the disease. This activity is complemented by the West Michigan Center for Health Improvement, a region-wide infrastructure to assist physician organizations and physicians in improving quality and efficiency and to identify and reduce disparities and improve quality within hospital inpatient care, beginning with heart failure and coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures. These activities are supported by work to measure the performance of area caregivers, beginning with diabetes care and to be followed by public reporting of performance.
Areas/Population Served
In Michigan: Mason, Lake, Osceola, Oceana, Newaygo, Mecosta, Montcalm, Muskegon, Ottawa, Kent, Ionia, Allegan and Barry counties
Our areas of focus
Take a closer look at the focuses of our work:
Hear what colleagues and health care experts around the country, including Mary Johnston, Scott Cook and Charles Meek, have learned about improving health care quality and reducing racial and ethnic disparities in care.