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Lawmakers Press Michigan Public Health Institute on Funding, MDHHS Relationship and COVID Contracts
Summary
At a House Oversight Subcommittee hearing, Michigan Public Health Institute CEO Dr. Renee Branch Kennedy described MPHI’s statutory origin, heavy reliance on state and federal funding, affiliate staffing for MDHHS, and the institute’s role in COVID-era contact tracing contracts as lawmakers pressed for more details and documentation.
At a hearing of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Public Health and Food Security, lawmakers questioned the Michigan Public Health Institute’s structure, funding sources and role working with the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
Dr. Renee Branch Kennedy, CEO of the Michigan Public Health Institute, told the committee that MPHI was created by the legislature in partnership with the state to “extend [MDHHS’s] capacity to advance the likelihood that Michiganders would be healthy and well.” She urged legislators to view public health broadly, saying, “public health is what we as a society do together, do collectively to assure the conditions in which all people can be healthy.”
The institute’s funding and staffing arrangement drew sustained attention. Kennedy said about 86% of MPHI’s dollars now come from MDHHS and that roughly 55% of MPHI’s overall budget is federal funding, some awarded directly to MPHI and some routed through MDHHS. She described MPHI’s workforce as including a core staff at its Okemos campus…
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