GRAND RAPIDS — Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids and five Spectrum Health-owned hospitals earned top grades in a semi-annual report on patient safety. Spectrum Health’s Big Rapids, Ludington, Pennock Hospital in Hastings, United Hospital in Greenville and Zeeland Community Hospital joined Saint Mary’s in earning an “A” grade in the spring report card issued by The Leapfrog Group, a Washington, D.C.-based advocate for health care quality and patient safety.

GRAND RAPIDS — Two years ago, the venture capital arm that health system Spectrum Health formed to back innovative health care startups had to go looking for deals because nobody in the field knew it existed. Today, Spectrum Health Ventures LLC faces a much different situation. Investment prospects now often come from referrals by other large health systems across the U.S. that also operate venture capital arms and want co-investors for deals.

KALAMAZOO — Peter Bergmann began his tenure as president at Ascension Borgess three months ago with a host of issues on his plate to manage. Among them is finalizing the proposed acquisition of 25-bed Allegan General Hospital and integrating it into the Kalamazoo-based regional health system, which includes hospitals in Kalamazoo, Dowagiac and Plainwell, as well as outpatient centers and physician offices.

Since deciding last fall to open a psychiatric urgent care center, Pine Rest Christian Mental Health Services President and CEO Mark Eastburg has heard from interested colleagues at care providers in the region asking about the possibility of replicating the model elsewhere.

Dr. Hyung Tai Kim becomes the new president next week at Mercy Health Saint Mary’s in Grand Rapids, a position he viewed as offering an “extraordinary opportunity to join an organization that believes in the things that I believe in.”

What began as a way for a software developer to keep families and friends updated on his daughter’s condition became a business opportunity for Open System Technologies Inc. in the health care industry. After a year-long pilot with Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids-based OST has begun to pitch the CareCircle service to health systems across the U.S., starting with the more than 100 hospitals that are already clients.

BELMONT — Trilogy Health Services LLC is planning to construct a new senior living and rehabilitation center in Plainfield Charter Township. The Belmont facility would be at 6081 West River Drive NE, on the northwest corner of West River and Jupiter Avenue, which is currently a vacant lot, said Matt Cole, senior civil engineer for Paradigm Design Inc.

Four medical schools in Michigan partnered to direct new physicians into areas of the state that are underserved or have a shortage of physicians. Backed by a $5 million budget allocation that the four institutions matched with $1.25 million apiece, the medical schools each placed two additional medical residents this year to train and work in medically underserved areas of Michigan.

Healthcare Bluebook contracts with 5,000 employers with more than 3 million employees who mostly self-fund their health coverage. Many health plans, such as Grand Rapids-based Priority Health, offer web-based platforms for members to look up prices and get an estimate on what they might pay based on their insurance coverage.

KALAMAZOO — The $60 million downtown Kalamazoo cancer pavilion is one of a number of capital projects for Bronson Healthcare that are driven partly by the shift toward delivering care at outpatient settings. Along with the cancer facility across from the Medical Office Pavilion on the South Campus in downtown, Bronson plans to develop a new $22 million hospital in South Haven and invest in a $3.8 million project to renovate inpatient rooms at LakeView Hospital in Paw Paw.