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In 2020, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) awarded the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) a five-year project to enhance data exchange capabilities and reduce health disparities in Michigan. The Center for Health and Research Transformation (CHRT) joined as a partner to support 7 regional health collaboratives and facilitate a learning community. The project recognized the absence of community voice in the initial health IT design, emphasizing the importance of integrating these perspectives to meet user needs and improve health outcomes.

Key processes include:

1. Establishment and Structure of a Statewide Community Council (CC)
The initial translation mechanism was the formation of a statewide Community Council (CC), which was designed to involve community health workers and Medicaid recipients in project governance.

2. Direct Integration into Executive Governance
To ensure the feedback immediately informs decision-making, regional community representatives were granted direct seats and voting power within the highest levels of the project governance structure:

3. Formalizing Community Voice within State Health IT Governance (CIE)
The success and visibility of the RHC Community Council led to the incorporation of the community voice into the formal Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) statewide Health IT (HIT) governance structure, specifically for the Community Information Exchange (CIE).

The establishment of the statewide Regional Health Collaboratives (RHC) Community Council gave visibility to the need to incorporate the community voice within the MDHHS HIT Community Information Exchange Governance structure that reports under the Health Information Technology Commission. Because of this awareness, a new committee, the CIE Community Voice Subgroup, was formed. CHRT emphasized the value of lived experience and community input within the Community Information Exchange activities in partnership with MDHHS.