Access Health gave an ever changing and consolidating health care system in Muskegon a vehicle in which to cooperate for the benefit of the community, according to longtime hospital administrator Roger Spoelman.
“I was supportive of Access Health in the early years,” Roger said of the agency that began an innovative three-share health plan in 1999. “It was difficult for three and then two hospitals in Muskegon to collaborate directly. Through a third party like Access Health, we could collaborate and not compete.”
The retired health care administrator that headed General and Mercy hospitals and eventually the consolidated Trinity Health before retiring in 2018 has seen a lot in Muskegon’s health. Roger said that since its inception 25 years ago, Access Health has been creative and innovative in its approach to serving members, employers, health care providers and the overall community.
“It was a way to bring everyone to participate from critical elements of the health care system and physician groups,” Roger said. “Access Health was blessed with the right combination of people and circumstances.”
Now the chairman of Bamf Health – a cutting-edge, Grand Rapids-based cancer research and treatment company – Roger said that the genius behind Access Health is that longtime executive director Jeff Fortenbacher does not have a health insurance background but instead is a psycholigst. The agency was not built on insurance actuaries but on changing member behaviors, he said
“What Access Health has built is having members take care of their own health through changing behaviors,” Roger said. “It has proven itself. It works. Access Health has proved it can be done successfully.”
Muskegon has been supportive of Access Health’s success over the past quarter century because it is the right size and with collations of community collaborators, Roger said. An element of trust among members, their employers, the medical providers and healthcare systems in Muskegon has allowed for a continual evolution of Access Health as the national health industry has changed.
“Access Health has proven that you can consume less health care resources and at the same time be healthier,” he said.