For Release – April 18, 2015
Contact:
Dennis Archambault
[email protected]; 313-871-3751
Detroit Wayne County Health Authority adopts new name, ‘Authority Health,’
retains historic mission
DETROIT -- The Detroit Wayne County Health Authority will be known as Authority Health beginning Saturday, April 18.
The new name is designed to simplify the organization’s public identity and better reflect its involvement in regional health
initiatives, such as its community-based teaching health center, Nurse-Family Partnership, and community health improvement
collaborative.
“Our Board of Directors has authorized a change in name to allow greater flexibility for implementing our various
initiatives such as our community-based teaching health center medical residency program; our Nurse-Family Partnership,
which is now regional; our role as a navigation agency for the Affordable Care Act, the new Detroit Wayne County Health
Improvement Collaborative, and our Population Health Council,” said Chris Allen, CEO of Authority Health.
“While we remain grounded in the foundation established by the InterLocal Agreement by the State of Michigan, Wayne
County, and City of Detroit, the expanded scope of our mission necessitated the change. We will continue to function as a health
authority and pursue the same objectives of improving the health of vulnerable citizens in medically underserved areas through
greater cohesion between providers and resources in the safety net.”
Key initiatives that expand beyond Wayne County include:
 Several years ago, the Board of Directors authorized the Health Authority to expand its enrollment efforts beyond
Wayne County to serve clients in neighboring counties.
 The Authority Health teaching health center program, established through a federal grant three years go to train
physicians and dentists in medically underserved areas, is based in Wayne County, but also has training sites outside
the county.
 Recently, the Detroit Nurse-Family Partnership was expanded to include all of Wayne County, as well as Macomb.
 The Detroit-Wayne Community Health Collaborative is based on partnerships with health systems serving regional
communities and will include strategies that influence vulnerable populations in those communities.
 The Population Health Council remains focused on Wayne County, but actively engages in health equity,
environmental quality, and public health issues that aren’t geo-specific.
“As we have seen with the recent collapse of the manufacturing sector and outmigration from Detroit, the low income,
vulnerable populations are dispersed throughout all counties in Southeast Michigan. Our challenge is to support public health
agencies in the work that they do, while supplementing their efforts by filling funding and programmatic gaps,” Allen said.
About Authority Health
Authority Health is a public body corporate, established as Detroit Wayne County Health Authority in 2004 through an
interlocal agreement between the State of Michigan, Wayne County, and City of Detroit to create a health care safety net for the
uninsured and underserved population of Wayne County. Authority Health is a certified navigation agency, promoting enrollment
in the Healthcare Marketplace and Healthy Michigan; sponsors the Detroit Nurse-Family Partnership, and the nation’s second
largest community-based teaching health center program.