Shiawassee Health and Wellness

“This agency would rather watch a family drown in a life-safety crisis than follow federal Medicaid law or the Michigan Mental Health Code. Shiawassee Health & Wellness (SHW) handles high-acuity children and families through a pattern of bad-faith gatekeeping, systemic failure to act, and deliberate administrative concealment. If you are a parent dealing with this office, you need to know exactly what rules they are breaking behind closed doors: Six-Month Service Denial (Violation of 42 CFR § 438.206): They left our family completely unstaffed and unsupported for six months without providing contractually authorized respite services. Under federal network adequacy laws, local staffing shortages do not relieve them of their duty; they are legally mandated to actively source out-of-network options. Withholding Due Process Notices (Violation of 42 CFR § 438.404): When they delay or refuse to provide an authorized service, they are legally required to issue a formal paper Notice of Adverse Benefit Determination (ABD). Instead, their caseworkers issue illegal verbal denials via text message and tell parents to bypass them for MDHHS, intentionally hiding the required paperwork to block the family's right to an official state appeal. Hiding State Waiver Protections (Failure to Inform under MCL 330.1754): They have been fully aware of severe, acute safety and elopement risks in our home since an ambulance-level emergency occurred years ago. Yet, they weaponized our lack of system knowledge by completely concealing the existence of the Children's Waiver Program (CWP) and SED Waiver to avoid processing the files. Forcing Illegal Choices: When explicitly caught, their compliance staff attempted to force a false choice by claiming we could only select one waiver. When legally corrected that a child has an absolute right to run concurrent eligibility assessments for both, they chose total communication silence. Concealing Records and Outpatient Collapse (Violation of MCL 330.1748): Their leadership actively sat in clinical meetings with hospital staff and private providers acknowledging that our community safety net had entirely collapsed. They kept us completely in the dark about it, blew past their own written deadlines to deliver unredacted case logs, and withheld our records to cover up their administrative tracking errors. They operate under the assumption that parents will get too exhausted by a crisis to fight back. Do not let them give you the runaround over the phone. Force absolutely everything into writing, reject their informal compromises, log formal Expedited Local Appeals under 42 CFR § 438.410, and copy every document directly to Mid-State Health Network regional compliance, the State Office of Recipient Rights, and the MDHHS Office of Inspector General. This agency's administrative incompetence is a direct threat to the safety of special-needs children in Shiawassee County.”

“There are a few phenomenal people there. But there are others with poor communication or will gaslight you and say that they didn’t say something that they did say. So now I’m struggling to get basic things for my kid after they failed to communicate “requirements” and dropped us. Get what you need from them then promptly make sure you have a new doctor ready to take over before they inevitably put you and your child in a tough situation. And keep a detailed folder with every piece of paperwork you receive from them.”

“Do not come here if you are a minority, you won’t get the respect or support you would expect from a mental health agency. There are a few good workers but not worth the gamble”

“If they don't treat your problem Dr. GILL WILL MAKE ONE UP. Misdiagnosed Aura migraines. Simplicity”