Issue of the Month: Health Net of West Michigan (former Kent Health Plan)

For the past 12 years, Kent County has partially funded the Kent Health Plan. This Plan was originally formed by Lody Zwarensteyn of The Alliance for Health of Grand Rapids and Chuck Zech, retired executive from Blue Cross/Blue Shield. The Kent Health Plan has recently combined with the Children’s Healthcare Access Program to form an expanded mission. The new entity is called “Health Net of West Michigan.” This new organization’s purpose is to “improve the health of children and adults, particularly vulnerable populations, through education and connections to health care and support services.” Health Net has developed broadened partnerships with more neighborhood support service providers such as Kent Department of Human Services and Hispanic Center of West Michigan to provide multidisciplinary teams of social workers, health educators, nurses, and community health workers to improve access and limit costs of primary health care to children and adults on Medicaid, uninsured, dual eligible low income adults, and newly insured. Health Net’s partnership with Kent County DHS will bring more federal matching funds to the county, and will increase the number of County residents with a primary health provider. This will reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and hospital admissions. See Maureen Kirkwood, Executive Director at mkirkwood@healthnet.wm.org for more information.