Displaying items tagged: healthcare

GRAND RAPIDS — Strong earnings for Priority Health — combined with millions of dollars in state and federal aid — enabled Spectrum Health to remain in the black for the first half of 2020 despite operating losses at its hospitals.

GRAND RAPIDS — Spectrum Health today named Dr. Hossain Marandi as president of Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital.

The COVID-19 pandemic created what Kelly Hirko calls a “massive shift” in health care.

GRAND RAPIDS — The $160 million federal contract to produce a COVID-19 vaccine when it’s ready elevates Grand River Aseptic Manufacturing Inc. into what Tom Ross calls the “big leagues.”

An employee health screening program that includes dozens of Kent County businesses is helping to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the community and keep key statistics at a relatively low and steady rate, health experts said today.

ALLEGAN — Perrigo Co. plc intends to buy three skin care and hair loss brands from French pharmaceutical company Sanofi.

GRAND RAPIDS — A Grand Rapids pharmaceutical producer has landed a major $160 million federal contract to produce a new COVID-19 vaccine once it’s ready and available.

Perrigo Co. plc grew sales more than 6 percent in the second quarter as earlier high demand eased for some medications during the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in Michigan, Priority Health turned to predictive analytics to identify which members were at the highest risk.

KALAMAZOO — Stryker Corp.’s sales declined sharply in the second quarter, as restrictions in the U.S. and globally during COVID-19 pandemic caused delays and deferrals of medical procedures, leading to a rare quarterly loss.

Michigan hospitals took a $1.1 billion financial hit this spring from the COVID-19 pandemic, a cost that continues to grow.

GRAND RAPIDS — The Grand Rapids African American Health Institute has launched a search for a new executive director.

Health plans in Michigan should post strong earnings for 2020 despite poor results in the first quarter from investment losses after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Advanced Cardiac & Vascular Centers for Amputation Prevention PLC has opened an office in Las Vegas, Nev., the practice’s fourth location and first outside of Michigan.

When it enters the West Michigan commercial health insurance market in 2021, the state’s third largest health plan will offer both large group and small group policies. 

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s recent mandate for Michigan health care workers is already in practice at many hospitals and health systems to eliminate cultural biases that can affect care.

Since announcing plans late last year to integrate cancer care, Mercy Health and Metro Health-University of Michigan Health have steadily proceeded on how exactly the Cancer Network of West Michigan will operate despite a slowdown related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

 BATTLE CREEK — As someone who has served on a hospital board for more than a decade, Erick Stewart is keenly aware of the financial challenges associated with these health care organizations.

A coalition of Michigan business and health care leaders recently warned that the state is at a “dangerous tipping point” in the COVID-19 pandemic and “at risk of losing ground it has sacrificed for months to gain” as the number of new cases again rose each day. As of July 16, Michigan had 71,842 confirmed cases of COVID-19, a daily increase of 645 cases.

Health insurers across Michigan have proposed small average rate adjustments for 2021 policy renewals for both small employers and individuals.

GRAND RAPIDS — Priority Health President and CEO Joan Budden plans to retire at the end of 2020 after 12 years with the health plan, the last five as its chief executive.

As the state mandates face coverings for indoor public places and large outdoor gatherings, a coalition of health care organizations in Michigan urges residents to raise “their vigilance against COVID-19,” maintain distance from one another and to wear a mask.

A coalition of business and health care leaders across the state today warned Michigan is at a “dangerous tipping point” in the COVID-19 pandemic and “at risk of losing ground it has sacrificed for months to gain.” The group cited increases in new daily cases in the last month after two months of steady decline. They include a record 610 new cases Wednesday, and more than 1,400 between July 2 and 4.

MUSKEGON — SEIU Healthcare Michigan will represent all registered nurses at Mercy Health in Muskegon.

A potential partnership with Henry Ford Health System could follow a similar playbook that Michigan State University wrote over the last decade in building up a medical education and research hub in Grand Rapids.

Bills to curb surprise medical billing in Michigan move forward in Lansing without the backing of physicians, who worry the proposed changes in state law would put them at a disadvantage when negotiating future reimbursement contracts with health insurance carriers.

The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting emerging market needs gave opportunity to two Grand Rapids-area health care technology companies.

Spectrum Health’s Zeeland Community Hospital has again been named among the top 100 hospitals in the U.S., according to an annual ranking by Fortune/IBM Watson Health.

Priority Health plans to waive all copays, deductibles and coinsurance for COVID-19 treatment and medically necessary testing through 2020, as well as expand its zero cost-share for virtual physician visits, including behavioral health.

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has signed a package of bills expanding access to telemedicine, codifying into law provisions of an earlier executive order.