Key Players:

• Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) – state Medicaid agency
• Aging, Community Living, and Supports Bureau (ACLS Bureau) – state unit on aging which includes the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP)
• Michigan 211

The MDHHS and the ACLS Bureau embarked on a plan to refresh their No Wrong Door system for older adults, individuals with disabilities, and caregivers. Key components of the plan include coordination between Michigan 211, local organizations providing person-centered options counseling (PCOC), and their State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) and Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act (MIPPA) program.

• Michigan 211: Michigan’s 211 system serves as their statewide No Wrong Door call center, that clients can call into to schedule counseling appointments or receive direct referrals to local providers. The use of a single phone line establishes more seamless connections between all services. To assist with onboarding staff, they host in-person trainings to help reinforce how to answer and direct calls in a person-centered way. They also offer a series of supplementary online trainings.
• PCOC: Michigan has prioritized the development of policies and procedures related to PCOC, including developing performance measures, conducting staff training, and creating statewide PCOC standards. Awardees of a competitive Grant Funding Opportunity (GFO) are also developing PCOC manuals that are representative of their own localities and agencies.
• SHIP/MIPPA Services: The GFO also solicited local entities to provide SHIP counseling in a way that is person-centered and fully integrated into Michigan's No Wrong Door system.

Awardees included local area agencies on aging, centers for independent living, and other non-profits serving specific population groups. In some cases agencies applied using a community care hub model to maximize service provision and leverage the consolidated administrative functions those arrangements offer. The awardees attended a person-centered practices training in the Spring of 2025, with the aim of standardizing services and ensuring consistency statewide. Some entities provide both PCOC and SHIP service and others provide one or the other. MDHHS continues to offer trainings on PCOC and SHIP throughout the year to train newly hired staff and provide continued learning opportunities for current counselors.

Michigan began this work with American Rescue Plan Act funds and plans to sustain it through a combination of Medicaid Administrative Claiming (MAC) funds, state general fund dollars, and federal grant funds. See Sustaining a No Wrong Door System and No Wrong Door MAC and State Health Information and Counseling Program for additional examples.