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Advisory board asks county to seek MDHHS review after classification keeps St. Clair County from rural funding
Summary
The St. Clair County Advisory Board of Health voted to ask the County Board to request MDHHS reconsider the county’s rural/metro designation, a move the medical director says could unlock about $5 million in rural-targeted federal health funds.
The St. Clair County Advisory Board of Health unanimously recommended that the County Board of Commissioners request reconsideration of the county’s MDHHS rural/metro classification after a presentation by the county medical director.
Dr. Remington Nevin told the advisory board that the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services used census-tract-based rules that label St. Clair County “metropolitan” while, he said, other counties with park or airport tracts were classified semi-rural. "This is an outrage," Nevin said, and he estimated the current designation could exclude the county from roughly $5 million in available federal rural health funding.
Nevin walked members through the technical rationale MDHHS applied, saying the state's voluntary adoption of certain federal tract definitions produced anomalies: a single tract with very few residents (a park or airport) elsewhere in a county can shift that county's overall designation. He proposed the board recommend the County Board ask state and federal representatives to seek a technical review and potential adjustment of the formula.
Board members discussed next steps and timeframes and then moved and seconded a recommendation that the County Board consider drafting a resolution requesting MDHHS reconsider its classification; that motion carried by voice vote. The advisory board’s motion asks county leadership to prepare a letter and resolution for MDHHS and, if appropriate, federal representatives to seek a tweak that would allow St. Clair County to qualify for rural-targeted programs such as the Rural Health Transformation Program.
The advisory board's formal recommendation will go to the County Board of Commissioners for action; advisory members said they hope the county's elected officials will pursue the technical review with state and federal agencies.
