Health Care
GRAND RAPIDS — Perrigo Co. plc is now scheduled to make a pitch in May to federal regulators who will decide whether to approve an over-the-counter daily birth control pill for the U.S. market.
MiBiz on WOOD-TV8: Mary Free Bed raising public, private funding for $60M pediatric facility
Written by MiBiz StaffMary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital is in the process of raising $60 million from public sources and private philanthropy to build a new pediatric care facility in Grand Rapids.
GRAND RAPIDS — Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital hopes to secure additional public funding to finance half the cost for a new $60 million pediatric facility in Grand Rapids.
GRAND RAPIDS — Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services has acquired employee assistance program contracts from Cherry Health.
Venture capital-backed SPDx eyes nationwide network of med device sterilization centers
Written by Mark SanchezGRAND RAPIDS — A startup company backed by West Michigan investors wants to reduce costs at hospitals and outpatient surgical centers by centralizing and managing their sterile processing for surgical instruments.
DeVos Children’s Hospital, McLaren partner to expand pediatric care in Lansing
Written by Mark SanchezLANSING — Corewell Health’s Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital plans to expand pediatric care in Lansing under an existing partnership with McLaren Health Care.
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Michigan family physicians call for more funding to avoid ‘full-blown’ staffing crisis
Written by Mark SanchezThe group representing 4,300 primary care doctors in Michigan is calling for more public funding to stem a worsening shortage of family physicians, especially in rural markets.
An emerging new generation of cell and gene therapies has insurers concerned about the effect on the cost of health coverage.
Sparrow Health reported Wednesday a $171.5 million loss for 2022, adding to a growing list of poor financial performers across the health care industry.
Corewell, Pine Rest create new collaborative to address access to mental health care
Written by Mark SanchezGRAND RAPIDS — A new partnership between Corewell Health and Pine Rest Christian Mental Services aims to tighten ties between the two organizations to improve access to care in West Michigan.
Citing public health crisis, care providers step up role against gun violence
Written by Mark SanchezHealth care providers who have long advocated on behalf of patients and for their profession have become increasingly vocal on another front: gun violence.
GRAND RAPIDS — Priority Health nearly tripled earnings in 2022, although how that may affect upcoming rate proposals for next year is unclear for now.
GR med device firm Shoulder Innovations raises $42M to boost commercialization
Written by Mark SanchezGRAND RAPIDS — West Michigan medical device company Shoulder Innovations Inc. has raised $42 million from investors that will go to accelerate commercialization and distribution.
Corewell Health operations buck national trend to remain profitable for 2022
Written by Mark SanchezGRAND RAPIDS — Corewell Health’s operations finished 2022 in the black despite escalating costs for labor, supplies and drugs, but the health system reported an overall net loss as the market deeply affected the performance of its investments.
Blue Cross reports $777 million loss for 2022 amid rising costs, poor portfolio performance
By Dustin Walsh, Crain’s Detroit BusinessBlue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan reported Wednesday a net loss of $777 million in 2022 due to rising operating costs, losses from its market portfolio and ongoing COVID-19 response.
Aspen Surgical doubles revenues, EBITDA in deal for Symmetry, its largest acquisition yet
Written by Mark SanchezBuying Nashville, Tenn.-based Symmetry Surgical Inc. last fall gave Aspen Surgical Products Inc. a far broader product portfolio to sell to hospitals and surgical centers.
SpendMend LLC secured major investments in 2022 from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners and two major health systems, including the venture capital arm of Grand Rapids-based Corewell Health.
Corewell Health merger grew from deeper cross-state connections forged during pandemic
Written by Mark SanchezThe blockbuster merger between Spectrum Health and Beaumont Health that created the largest in-state health system in Michigan began with a basic “what if” question.
Trinity Health behavioral hospital breaking ground this summer part of broader mental health care push in West Mich.
Written by Mark SanchezThe psychiatric hospital that Trinity Health intends to start building soon with a large Pennsylvania-based hospital operator comes as care providers more broadly increase access to mental health care.
Trinity Health temporarily closing surgical floor at Muskegon hospital amid staffing crunch
Written by Mark SanchezMUSKEGON — Temporarily closing a surgical floor at Trinity Health Muskegon reflects the ongoing staffing crunch many hospitals are facing today.
Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services today organized a team of 20 therapists and counselors trained in crisis counseling to aid Michigan State University students, faculty, staff and others coping with the trauma of Monday night’s campus shootings.
KALAMAZOO — Bronson Healthcare has named Deb Rozewicz as CEO for the health system’s new psychiatric hospital under construction in Battle Creek.
GVSU report finds West Michigan’s mental health crisis worsened during pandemic
Written by Mark SanchezIn the first year of the pandemic, 13.3 percent of people on Medicaid who went to a hospital emergency department had a mental health issue as their primary diagnosis.
MiBiz on WOOD-TV8: Trinity Health, surgeons sue OAM over non-compete agreements
Written by MiBiz StaffTrinity Health and four surgeons recently filed a lawsuit against Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan, claiming they allow the market’s largest orthopedic practice to essentially hold a monopoly over procedures in Kent County.
Trinity Health lawsuit alleges ‘monopolistic behavior’ by major West Michigan orthopedic practice
Written by Mark SanchezGRAND RAPIDS — Trinity Health and four surgeons want a federal court to invalidate non-compete agreements with Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan, claiming they allow the market’s largest orthopedic practice to essentially hold a monopoly over procedures in Kent County.
CALEDONIA TWP. — Davenport University plans to ramp up academic programs to bring more professionals into the mental health field.
Michigan physicians group wants state to provide financial aid to cope with rising costs
Written by Mark SanchezThe financial pressures that have many U.S. hospitals and health systems operating at a loss also are battering the finances for physician practices nationwide.
CALEDONIA — Aspen Surgical Products Inc. has named Steve Blazejewski as CEO as part of an executive succession plan.
Spectrum, Beaumont integration and expansions top most-read health care stories of 2022
Written by MiBiz StaffThe blockbuster merger of Spectrum Health and Beaumont Health in February of 2022 created a monthslong process, including a couple of name changes, to merge the two large health systems.
Constance Brown Hearing Centers will become part of Bronson Healthcare next week, allowing for easier collaboration and follow-up care between the two organizations.
After exhausting options to shift costs to employees, companies take a broader view on benefits
Written by Mark SanchezLarger employers are taking a broader view of their employee benefits. Rather than consider health benefits separate from other benefits, they now look at them together as an entire package in the total compensation they offer.
Corewell Health pursues ‘bold vision’ as post-merger integration continues in 2023
Written by Mark SanchezTina Freese Decker led the blockbuster 2022 merger between Grand Rapids-based Spectrum Heath and Beaumont Health in Southfield that created Corewell Health, the largest in-state health system in Michigan with 22 hospitals and about 64,000 employees.
Rocked by unprecedented cost pressures, Michigan hospitals face ‘very, very challenging’ outlook
Written by Mark SanchezHealth systems across Michigan head toward 2023 facing major financial headwinds from an intensifying worker shortage that has sharply driven up labor costs that cut hard into their bottom lines.
‘Time will tell’ whether new Sparrow contract boosts Priority Health’s Lansing market share
Written by Mark SanchezThe new contract with Sparrow Health System provides an opportunity for Priority Health to carve out a much larger presence in the Lansing-area market, although growth may not come easily.
New contract with Sparrow Health deepens Priority Health’s Lansing-area presence
Written by Mark SanchezA new contract with Sparrow Health in Lansing fills a notable hole in Priority Health’s care network across the Lower Peninsula.
Ascension Borgess reaches tentative agreement with nurses after vote to authorize strike
Written by Mark SanchezUnionized nurses at Ascension Borgess Hospital in Kalamazoo will vote this week on a proposed tentative contract.
LANSING — University of Michigan Health will extend further across the state with the acquisition of Lansing-based Sparrow Health.
GRAND RAPIDS — Bob Von Kaenel, a longtime executive at Kentwood Office Furniture and Herman Miller Inc., has been named the new president and CEO of nonprofit health care services provider Hope Network.
Ascension Borgess Hospital nurses vote to authorize strike as contract negotiations continue
Written by Mark SanchezAscension Borgess Hospital nurses have voted overwhelmingly to authorize a strike if needed to secure a new union contract.
University of Michigan Health-West plans new $10.4M Wayland health center to expand services in underserved area
Written by Mark SanchezUniversity of Michigan Health-West plans to build a new, larger health center in Wayland to expand care offerings in an underserved area.
Network180 secures $3.9M in Kent Co. ARPA funding to build out behavioral health crisis services
Written by Mark SanchezThe $3.9 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funding that Network180 received from Kent County will help support mental health care services for people in a crisis.
University of Michigan Health-West, GRCC take on nursing shortage with new partnership
Written by Mark SanchezUniversity of Michigan Health-West will help nursing students at Grand Rapids Community College pay for their training through a new partnership designed to address an acute nursing shortage.
GR med device startup prepares implant material for commercialization after raising $5.3M
Written by Mark SanchezA Grand Rapids medical device startup aims to launch into the market in early 2023 with a new material for spinal and orthopedic implants.
Corewell Health files emergency request to add capacity at DeVos Children’s Hospital amid RSV surge
Written by Mark SanchezGRAND RAPIDS — Corewell Health wants to temporarily add capacity at Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids to handle a surge in young patients with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV).
HAP expands care network in West Michigan as part of statewide growth strategy
Written by Mark SanchezHealth Alliance Plan has extended its care network on the west side of the state under new contracts with care providers.
State, federal relief boost Corewell Health’s bottom line as ‘unfavorable’ conditions persist
Written by Mark SanchezMore than $100 million in state and federal assistance accounted for much of Corewell Health’s operating margin during the first nine months of 2022, as results narrowed amid higher labor costs.
Michigan life sciences industry ranks among best in nation as employment grows
Written by Mark SanchezEmployment in Michigan’s life sciences sector grew by 5.6 percent from 2018 to 2021 to 44,340 jobs, ranking the state among the top 15 in the nation for industry size.
