Established 1936 – John A. Collins, President

EMBASSY SUITES BY HILTON, GRAND RAPIDS DOWNTOWN

Big E's Sports Grille

710 Monroe Avenue NW, Grand Rapids

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2023   –  7:15 a.m.

Can a monopoly be a positive benefit for a community? Can it be a negative? A pure monopoly has 100% market share, whereas a firm with monopoly power could be as low at 25%. In health care, the Grand Rapids area was able to pride itself in keeping the costs lower than other metropolitan areas in Michigan. Much of this was because of the efforts of Alliance for Health, a community coalition that worked for over 70 years to monitor what the local hospitals spent their money on.

Lody Zwarensteyn retired as president of Alliance for Health in 2014 after 42 years. Alliance for Health was a community coalition working to reduce health care costs for 13 area counties. The Alliance was dedicated to the encouragement of optimal health for all residents of these counties through high-quality health care services at the lowest cost, by bringing together all related parties to work together on health-related community priorities and initiatives, such as Certificate of Need applications filed by hospitals and clinics. The organization ceased operations in 2015.

Spectrum Health was incorporated in 1997, combining Butterworth Health System and Blodgett Memorial Medical Center. In 2022, a merger between the now enlarged Spectrum Health and Metro Detroit’s Beaumont Health created the largest health system in Michigan, based on inpatient admissions and net patient revenue. There are 21 units within this conglomeration.

Lody will share his insights on the monopolization of health care with us.

Invocation: Eric Nelson
Introduction: Paul Chardoul

Monopolies

"Monopolies are sacrifices of the many to the few. Where the power is in the few it is natural for them to sacrifice the many to their own partialities and corruptions."
 - Letter from James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 17 October, 1788