Mission

The Alliance for Health is a broad-based community coalition dedicated to the encouragement of optimal health for all residents through high quality health care services at the lowest cost.

• GOAL I: The Alliance for Health will strengthen its focus on planning.
• GOAL II: The Alliance for Health will sharpen its data focus and resources.
• GOAL III: The Alliance for Health will provide representation of the total area of West Central Michigan.
• GOAL IV: The Alliance for Health will be proactive in communications.
• GOAL V: The Alliance for Health will develop sustainability in sources of funding.

Beliefs

As a broad-based community coalition, we encourage optimal health for all through high quality services at the lowest cost.

What do we believe?

• Good health is desirable.
• The health system is accountable to the entire local community.
• The complexity of the health system requires all segments to be openly & cooperatively involved.
• Accurate information and information sharing leads to proper decisions.
• High costs don’t guarantee high quality. Costs can be reduced, prevented or contained by stimulating community action.
• Resources are limited; we must use ours wisely.

What are our values?

• Community accountability
• Open dialogue
• Information sharing
• Equal partnership among members
• Collaboration
• Inclusiveness
• Integrity
• Honesty
• Efficient, effective, high quality health care for all

Who do we involve?

• Community health agencies
• Educators
• Employers/ purchasers
• Government
• Health care providers & practitioners
• Individuals
• Insurers
• News media

What do we do?

• Identify & help prioritize the community’s health issues.
• Act as a community catalyst.
• Lead discussion about health directly & through the media.
• Convene diverse groups, ask key questions.
• Present recommendations to the community.
• Develop support from all segments of the community to help solve health issues.
• Help balance the community’s health care resources.
• Provide neutral validation and filtering of information.

What are our strengths?

• Our organizational structure has a single purpose.
• We provide a neutral, objective forum.
• We are areawide, minimizing parochialism.
• We include all sectors of the community.
• We are unique and non-duplicative.
• We provide no direct services to avoid self-serving conflicts.
• We use non-governmental, cooperative approaches.
• We are skilled in community organization.
• We are recognized by community leadership & the media.
• We have durability & are not a vanishing fad.
• We have a 50-yr history of accomplishment.
• We have an experienced professional staff.

What are our priorities?

• Determine community needs, service gaps & unnecessary duplication
• Use our strength in fostering competing interests to work together
  • Unite interests of different sectors
  • Develop cross-sector support for common activities
  • Stimulate cooperative community risk reduction efforts
  • Align incentives of sectors to support healthy community efforts
• Overcome unintended results of rapid changes in our health care system
• Emphasize measurement and accountability
  • Measure health status
  • Assure community-based accountability
  • Objectively define community benefits of providers
  • Develop accountability measures for:
    • Employers
    • Health Plans
    • Hospitals
    • Health Departments
    • Government Purchasers
• Focus attention on health status
• Focus attention on access to health care, including gaining coverage for those without
• Stimulate development of market forces
  • Stimulate community-wide purchasing strategies, including value purchasing
  • Stimulate incentives to reward healthy community efforts