MDHHS Reports - MSU/McKinsey & Company, 2020

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Michigan Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

1. All reports, including report research that was presented in an alternative format, prepared by Michigan State University and McKinsey & Company and provided to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) between the dates of 1/1/2020 and 12/31/2020.

To assist in your search, the requested report(s) were referenced in emails between officials from the Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services (provided to me under MDHHS FOIA request H016452-082322) dated June 10, 2020. One email in the thread asks about the release date of the "MSU/McKinsey report." Another email in the thread mentions that "the pending MSU/McKinsey report could help" as part of a letter to CMS Administrator Seema Verma. A third email in the same thread dated June 11, 2020 notes that "there is some discussion about whether [the MSU/McKinsey report] will ultimately be issued in a report format."

Because of that, in the event that the requested report(s) was/were not issued in a report format, please provide the requested records in whatever format they were delivered to MDHHS.

You can view the aforementioned email thread here for reference: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22279156-re__snf_data_cms_release_2_r

Upon delivery of the requested documents, please specifically certify that no other records related to the request exist.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

Disclosure of the requested information to me is in the public interest because it is likely to contribute significantly to public understanding of the operations or activities of the government.

Because this request is being made as part of a news-gathering effort with a high likelihood of publication, I request a waiver of all fees.
 In order to help determine my status for fees, you should know that I am a freelance journalist whose work has been published by print and digital news outlets and magazines in Michigan and in other states, as well as by national outlets. You can view my portfolio at www.erinmariemiller.com/clips.

Because the requested documents were already delivered to a State agency, they should already be prepared in an easily deliverable format and I assume there will be very little work involved in retrieving them and therefore no fees. However, in the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I am willing to pay up to $25 for the requested information. If there is a fee that exceeds that amount, please notify me prior to initiating any work on this request.

I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available, or CD-ROM if not.

Please deliver all responsive documents to this email address.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Erin Marie Miller

Hello,

I'm not sure how your agency is able to say that the requested report does not exist, considering it was explicitly mentioned by state officials multiple times.

Once again, to assist in your search, the requested MSU/McKinsey report(s) was referenced in emails between officials from the Michigan Dept. of Health and Human Services dated June 10, 2020. One email asks about the release date of the "MSU/McKinsey report." Another email in the thread mentions that "the pending MSU/McKinsey report." A third email in the same thread, dated June 11, 2020, notes that "there is some discussion about whether [the MSU/McKinsey report] will ultimately be issued in a report format." Because of those official emails, I am confident that the requested records do, in fact, exist ... and I am hopeful that MSU will provide them to me as required by law.

You can view the aforementioned email thread between MDHHS officials that describes the requested records in detail here: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/22279156-re__snf_data_cms_release_2_r

- Erin Miller