In 2015, with funding from Michigan’s State Innovation Model (SIM), the Washtenaw Health Initiative partnered with a dozen different agencies in Washtenaw and Livingston Counties to build a program to care for residents with very significant health needs. In 2020, the regional collaborative was renamed MI Community Care (MiCC) and other innovations were introduced, including efforts to refine the care coordination model, to improve the local and state health care system, and to scale up the work.
MiCC believes it is vitally important that individuals with lived experience engage in all levels of the work—from care coordination through governance, planning, and ongoing operations.
MiCC meets individuals where they are; works with them to develop shared goals for their social, behavioral, and health needs; and ensures that participant needs are treated with dignity and compassion by their care teams.
Health information technology is critical to the work of MiCC. It allows care coordinators to talk to one another securely about the needs of shared clients, to make referrals for support, and to get updates about referral outcomes.
Health equity in at the core of the MiCC regional collaborative. We believe all individuals should benefit equitably from the program and we collect race and ethnicity data about participants to ensure equitable outcomes.
MiCC uses a collective impact model to ensure that partners advance their shared values and objectives. This improves health outcomes for participants and the community, allowing partners to have a greater impact.
We work to provide "no wrong door" access to care for our participants. This means participants won't have to bounce back and forth between organizations or struggle to navigate a complicated and often disjointed system of care.