With executive order, Snyder merges state departments

Grand Rapids — From a hospital room in Ann Arbor, Gov. Rick Snyder issued an executive order Friday merging the state’s human services and community health departments into a 14,000-employee agency.

Snyder, who was hospitalized Thursday for a blood clot in his right leg, set in motion a 60-day merger to create the Department of Health and Human Services directed by Nick Lyon, who has been running both agencies for the past month.

Lt. Gov. Brian Calley announced the executive order Friday during a speech at the Michigan Press Association’s annual conference in Grand Rapids.

The merger is the “first major step” in Snyder’s second-term “river of opportunity” agenda to overhaul state government programs for the poor and make them more focused on helping disadvantaged Michiganians climb the economic ladder, Calley said.

“Our intention here with this action and everything that comes after it is to design what the government does around things that people need as opposed to expecting our people to conform to artificial constructs that are attached to government programs,” Calley said. “The whole purpose here is to help people get from a place of dependence to a place of independence by solving problems, getting to the root cause of the problem.”

He explained Snyder’s absence with a joke: “The governor insisted on doing a lot leg work on the health care industry.”

Snyder first announced plans to merge the two departments during his Jan. 20 State of the State address. One efficiency the governor hopes to get out of the merger is creating a uniform eligibility process for public assistance programs the two agencies manage, such as food stamps, Medicaid health coverage, child care and cash assistance.

Lyon, who attended the media convention, said he has frozen a handful of open management positions at “high levels” in both departments while the merger takes place.

While Calley spoke to newspaper editors and publishers in the governor’s place, Snyder remained hospitalized at St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor. Snyder’s office has not given a timeframe for when doctors believe he could be released, but a St. Joseph Mercy spokeswoman confirmed that Snyder “is in good condition.”

“The doctors are very pleased with his progress,” Snyder spokeswoman Sara Wurfel said Friday.

Snyder was admitted to the hospital Thursday after he noticed swelling in his right leg and decided to have it examined. The governor ruptured his Achilles tendon in early January while training to run a 5-kilometer race on a family vacation in Florida.

Wurfel said the governor's office has received an outpouring of support from across the country since news of his hospitalization broke Thursday afternoon.

The governor’s hospitalization prompted Senate Majority Floor Leader Mike Kowall to launch a website where citizens can wish him a speedy recovery. At www.GetWellGovernor.com people can electronically sign a get-well card.

“He and the first lady are very appreciative of all of the support and well-wishes they have received,” Wurfel said.

Wurfel said doctors determined the governor should be admitted Thursday as a precaution and for further care. He also had some pain in the leg, she said.

A medical expert said Snyder’s condition commonly occurs among people with injuries because they are more likely to sit around more than usual, which increases the risk of forming a clot from the thickening of the blood in a vein.

“Most people do fine,” said Dr. Earlexia M. Norwood, service chief of family medicine for the Henry Ford Health System’s West Bloomfield Hospital, director of practice development and community health for the system’s medical group.

Detroit Receiving Hospital emergency medical physician Daniel Helzer agreed the risk of the blood clot turning into a dangerous complication is “very, very small” when it is identified early.

“It is something that is easily treated over a few months, usually with blood thinners,” said Helzer, who works for the Detroit Medical Center and is a voluntary faculty member at the Wayne State University School of Medicine.

Snyder also has canceled his scheduled activities and appearances through the weekend, Wurfel said.

Wurfel said Snyder’s doctors have recommended a lighter workload for a while, but at this point, the setback doesn’t alter his plans to present his proposed state budget for 2015-16 next week.

livengood@detroitnews.com

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