The plan would shift $400 million in state spending to the partnership from money the state now pays hospitals and clinics who treat the uninsured.

After many years of collaborative efforts to decrease infant mortality, Michigan recorded in 2004 its lowest rate ever of 7.6 (deaths) per thousand live births, a testament to the hard work going on at both the state and local levels.

The MI Volunteer Registry is another proactive step in preparing for accidental, natural, or intentional public health emergencies. It will form a critical network to facilitate the deployment of willing, needed, and qualified volunteers for any emergency.

This is a grass roots initiative that will potentially expand nationwide. The registry will expedite response efforts for emergencies affecting the health and wellness of citizens.

This is our third year with the Valentine's program. We'll go to homes, restaurants, hospitals, offices, anywhere basically.

I think the majority of the hospitals are still using paper-based [systems]. But many of them are migrating into an electronic record keeping program because they see the benefits of that. The other big piece that contributes to that is hospital IT systems have made significant improvements in the last few years. If we were talking five years ago, not a lot of sterile processing departments had computers in them. Now nearly all of them have computers in areas beyond just the manager?s office. Sterile processing departments really recognize, as we all do in both our personal lives and professional lives, the benefits of using IT technology to make our jobs easier.