Healthcare gets argued like a spreadsheet, but most of what matters shows up as a human moment: a parent trying to make sense of a diagnosis, a patient who just wants care close to home, a kid in a hospital room who lights up because it’s bingo time. From the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, we talk with Tina Freese Decker, president and CEO of Corewell Health, and Lamont Yoder, president of Corewell Health East, about what it really takes to improve healthcare access, affordability, and outcomes across Michigan. 

We dig into how technology can lower the cost of care while making care simpler to reach. Think telehealth visits, remote clinical support across a 21-hospital system, and the operational work required to keep innovations safe for patients, clinicians, and communities. Tina also shares a striking example of focused ultrasound used to target a tiny area in the brain and eliminate a tremor, letting a patient walk out able to hold a cup again. That story is a reminder that healthcare innovation is not hype when it restores everyday life. 

Then we zoom out to policy. We talk about the unusual power of getting insurers, providers, legislators, and partners in the same room, plus a concrete Michigan win: collaboration that helped authorize Medicaid payment for newborn genetic testing, a model other states have copied. We also tackle a topic many people avoid until it is too late: advanced care planning and end-of-life care. If we want real healthcare cost savings without sacrificing quality, we have to reduce stigma, start conversations earlier, and modernize regulations that no longer match today’s accountability and capabilities. 

If you care about healthcare reform, patient-centered care, and practical policy that can actually move the needle, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the Common Bridge.

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Seven days. That’s the average wait time Trinity Health Michigan says it takes to get a new patient in with a primary care doctor and it’s a clue to how affordability and access can actually improve at the same time. From the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, I sit down with Shannon Striebich, president and CEO of Trinity Health Michigan, to talk about what a modern health system has to do differently if we want shorter waits, stronger prevention, and healthier communities across the state.

We start with Trinity’s “coast to coast” Michigan footprint and then get specific about what drives real patient access: expanding primary care, making scheduling easier with online tools, and keeping people connected to preventive care once they enter the system. Shannon makes a straightforward point that too often gets lost in policy talk: it’s cheaper to be healthy than to develop a significant illness. That idea becomes the thread running through the whole conversation on healthcare affordability, prevention, and total cost of care.

Then we widen the lens to community health, including Trinity’s “food is medicine” work and hospital-based farms that provide tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce to people facing food insecurity. Finally, we take on the hardest issue: healthcare payment reform. Shannon explains why today’s incentives still favor hospital-based care over community-based prevention, and why double digit healthcare inflation in pharmaceuticals and supplies makes the current patchwork funding approach feel unsustainable. If you care about Michigan healthcare policy, value-based care, and practical steps that can move outcomes fast, this conversation is for you.

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Healthcare workforce shortages are not a single problem with a single fix, they are a pipeline problem. I’m joined by Russ Kavalhuna, President of Western Michigan University, to talk about what it looks like when a community decides to grow its own talent instead of hoping someone else moves in. From physicians and nurses to lab techs, radiology techs, OT, and PT, we dig into the roles that keep care available in real life, not just on paper. 

We get specific about what Western Michigan University already has in place: a strong base of allied health education and a cutting-edge medical school, WMED, that attracts thousands of applicants for just 88 seats. Then we explore an ambitious idea that could change the math for Southwest Michigan: a healthcare talent pipeline that starts as early as eighth grade, moves students through high school and higher education, and connects them to local clinical training and employment. The Kalamazoo Promise adds a rare advantage by reducing tuition costs, making healthcare education more reachable for local families. 

We also zoom out to the regional ecosystem. Kalamazoo’s two independent hospital systems, Bronson and Beacon, collaborate with the university and medical school, creating a foundation that employers care about when deciding where to invest and where to recruit. And because Michigan’s population is aging, we talk about healthy aging research, prevention, and why keeping people out of acute care can improve quality of life while easing staffing pressure. 

Finally, we tackle policy: what incentives could actually keep graduates in Michigan after they train here? We discuss options like student debt relief, down payment support, and employer-friendly tools that help new clinicians put down roots. If you care about healthcare access, medical education, and smart workforce development, this conversation will give you a blueprint worth debating. Subscribe, share the show with someone building in Michigan, and leave a review with your take on what would make you stay.

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Health care is not just a line item for employers, it’s a defining force in whether a region can grow, attract talent, and stay competitive. From the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, we sit down with Rick Baker of the Grand Rapids Chamber of Commerce to connect the dots between community investment and the health care systems that keep West Michigan working.

We talk about what the Chamber actually does across 3,100 member businesses, then zoom in on what makes Grand Rapids “sticky” for graduates and early-career workers. Rick shares how quality-of-life investments and higher education partnerships help employers recruit and retain, and why hospitals and health systems are true community assets. We also explore the region’s long-term goal of becoming a destination city for health care, including the growth of the Medical Mile and the role of major institutions like Corewell Health, Michigan State University’s College of Human Medicine, and the Van Andel Research Institute.

Then we get candid about the toughest issue: rising health care costs and the real impact on employer benefits and workforce decisions. We close with a hopeful shift, discussing how COVID-era awareness accelerated more open conversations about mental health and why “above the neck” care must be aligned with physical health to support whole-person outcomes.

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A lot of health care headlines sound distant until you realize how quickly a policy tweak can turn into a long drive, a missed refill, or an ER visit that could have been prevented. From the Mackinac Policy Conference, we sit down with Monique Stanton, President and CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, to talk about why Medicaid is the number one health care issue for so many Michiganders and why people feel genuinely scared about what comes next.

We get specific about what’s changing and what isn’t. Monique explains that Medicaid income eligibility in Michigan stays roughly at 138% of the federal poverty level, yet major barriers can still knock people off coverage, including work requirements, twice a year eligibility checks, and the paperwork that creates “churn” for families already stretched thin. We also dig into the potential impact of HR1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” and why advocates expect as many as 200,000 to 250,000 people in Michigan could lose coverage if rollbacks move forward.

Then we zoom out to what these changes mean on the ground, especially in rural Michigan. When coverage shrinks, clinics and hospital service lines can close, and that hurts everyone, not only Medicaid recipients. A labor and delivery unit shutting down or a behavioral health clinic moving farther away can turn routine care into an hours long trip, making it harder to stay healthy, work consistently, and care for family. We also talk about why hospitals and the Michigan Health and Hospital Association are key partners, and how Healthy Michigan Medicaid expansion helped cut uncompensated care by about 50% while shifting chronic care from emergency departments to primary care.

If you care about Michigan Medicaid, rural health care access, and practical health policy that improves real lives, you’ll want this conversation. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review to help more people find the show.

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A brand-new building can look like progress, but what happens when the real problem is leadership and accountability behind locked doors? From the Mackinac Policy Conference, we sit down with Michigan State Senator Michael Webber to talk candidly about state-run psychiatric hospitals, what he says he saw after taking a closer look, and why mental health care oversight can’t stay in the shadows.

We get specific about patient safety and operational failures, including the fallout from a false active shooter drill at the Hawthorne Center, the cascading trauma it created for patients and families, and what that kind of breakdown signals about governance. Webber walks us through the push for an Auditor General review, the significance of multiple severe audit findings, and why agreeing with findings is not the same as fixing them. We also dig into recipient rights, patient advocacy, and how adding lived experience to oversight boards could change decision-making in behavioral health care.

Then we zoom out to the economics: hospitals as major employers and community anchors across Metro Detroit and Michigan, and the affordability crisis constituents bring to lawmakers every day. Webber explains how well-intended insurance coverage mandates can still raise premiums, why transparency matters across hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and health plans, and what happens when families face high deductibles and start avoiding care.

If you care about Michigan health care policy, mental health reform, hospital accountability, and making coverage more affordable, this conversation will give you real stories and clear policy tensions to think about. Subscribe, share this episode with someone who cares about mental health care, and leave a review, what policy change would you want lawmakers to prioritize first?

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Health care gets blamed on villains, but the harder truth is that most people are reacting to the incentives right in front of them. From the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, we sit down with Matt Elliott, founder of Blue Lake Ideas and former president of Bank of America Michigan, to ask the question that quietly reshapes every other debate: who is the customer in health care?

Matt brings a leadership lens he calls the “Power of And” thinking that refuses to collapse decisions into either-or. If Michigan wants a stronger future, we have to execute today and invest for tomorrow. We have to take care of people and still deliver results. That mindset matters when the state is facing what many leaders describe as a “house on fire” moment: slipping educational and economic outcomes, rising cost pressure, and real threats to access, especially for rural hospitals that often serve as the largest employer in town.

We also get concrete about health care cost transparency and pricing signals. Patients rarely see the real price of care, there often isn’t a usable price sheet, and even providers can be constrained by contracts and regulation. We talk about how benefit design and tax policy shape behavior, why clarity has to come before solutions, and what “winning” should mean if we want a health care system that works for patients and communities.

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A kid walks into the ER because they thought a THC edible was candy, and the package did the lying. That’s one of the most unsettling through-lines in my conversation with Luanne Thomas Ewald, chief operating officer at CS Mott Children’s Hospital and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital at University of Michigan Health, recorded at the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference with the Michigan Health and Hospital Association. 

Luanne breaks down what’s new at Michigan Medicine, including how CS Mott keeps pushing pediatric innovation and measurable outcomes, and why a design choice matters more than a press release: the women’s hospital is built within the children’s hospital, so high-risk deliveries can move a newborn to specialized care in a one-minute elevator ride instead of an ambulance transfer. We also talk leadership and collaboration across Michigan as she reflects on nearly 34 years in children’s health and her role with MHA’s Council on Children’s Health, where hospitals step away from competition to focus on what’s best for kids statewide. 

We dig into major child health policy issues that don’t always make headlines: Medicaid funding threats that squeeze working families caring for children with chronic conditions, and how housing support like Ronald McDonald House Ann Arbor becomes critical when a children’s hospital is consistently operating above capacity. If you care about pediatric patient safety, children’s hospital capacity, Medicaid policy, or practical regulation that prevents harm, this conversation is for you. 

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Detroit’s next wave of health care may be built as much with partnerships as with concrete. We sit down with Dr. Adnan Munkarah, President for Care Delivery and Chief Clinical Officer at Henry Ford Health, to unpack what it takes to modernize an academic medical center while keeping a century-long commitment to the city that surrounds it.

We talk about replacing aging hospital space with a new tower and why that matters for patient care, safety, and the future of care delivery in Michigan. Dr. Munkarah walks us through the vision for a Midtown Detroit medical campus that blends clinical excellence with research scale, including a major research building and a coordinated approach with Michigan State University to accelerate discovery. We also explore specialized growth, like bringing Shirley Ryan AbilityLab’s elite inpatient rehabilitation model into a “hospital within a hospital,” plus the push toward precision medicine and theranostics for cancer.

Then we get candid about the health care workforce and what’s changing. New physicians are incredibly capable and often more protective of work-life balance, and we discuss why that can be a strength when systems support team-based care. We also zero in on one of the biggest sources of frustration in American health care: prior authorization, insurance denials, and the administrative time sink that delays patients and fuels physician burnout. Dr. Munkarah closes with a clear challenge: invest upstream in prevention, public health, early cancer screening, and early management of diabetes and hypertension so we spend less in crisis and get better outcomes.

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One choice at the DMV can ripple into hundreds of surgeries, thousands of hospital hours, and a second chance at life for people you’ll never meet. From the 2026 Mackinac Policy Conference, we sit down with Dorrie Dils from Gift of Life Michigan to unpack what actually happens when someone becomes an organ and tissue donor and why the system works only when families and clinicians can move with clarity and speed.

We talk about Gift of Life Michigan’s role as the state’s organ procurement organization for deceased donation, how they coordinate with Michigan transplant centers, and how the program has scaled since 2016 from a few hundred donors a year to a pace of 600 plus donors, resulting in about 1,400 life-saving organ transplants annually. Along the way, we get into what “first of its kind” transplant procedures can mean for care in Michigan, plus the difference between living donation handled by transplant centers and deceased donation facilitated through Gift of Life.

The heart of the conversation is human. Donor families face the worst day of their lives, yet many find real healing in knowing their loved one saved others. We also discuss why some organs carry extreme urgency, especially liver failure, where time is short without a transplant. Finally, Dorrie shares a practical policy push with big potential: expanding organ and tissue donation education in Michigan high schools so teens understand the decision before they’re asked to register for the donor registry when getting a driver’s license.

If you care about organ donation, transplantation, Michigan health policy, or simply making sure your own wishes are known, listen now, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find these conversations.

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