Healthcare Solution Design
Partnership connects employers with Beacon Kalamazoo, one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals, and expands Manifest into Indiana.
GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan – October 12, 2026 – Manifest, a healthcare solutions design studio, today announced that Beacon Health System has joined the Manifest Provider Collective. The agreement brings Beacon Kalamazoo into the Collective and, through Beacon’s northern Indiana facilities, takes Manifest across state lines for the first time.
Beacon Kalamazoo complements Manifest’s existing provider footprint across West Michigan. The hospital has been named one of America’s 100 Best Hospitals by Healthgrades three years running, placing it in the top 2% nationally for clinical performance. In 2026, it was Michigan’s only recipient of both that distinction and Healthgrades’ Patient Safety Excellence Award.
Our goal of connecting employers and their employees with high-quality, high-value care has taken hold more quickly than even we expected. Affordability pressures have pushed the market to find ways to collaborate now, and with the partners and platform we’ve built, we’re uniquely positioned to make that collaboration happen. Beacon lets us extend our model to southwest Michigan and northern Indiana.
Aaron Friedkin, MD, co-founder of Manifest
Manifest was founded by former Michigan healthcare executives Rick Abbott and Aaron Friedkin, MD. The company focuses on designing solutions that help employers and providers work together to improve outcomes and reduce unnecessary costs.
At Beacon, everything we do is grounded in clinical quality, patient safety, and support for our local communities. As healthcare costs continue to challenge employers and families, partnerships like Manifest Provider Collective create new opportunities to improve access, affordability and the overall patient experience. Our values align closely with Manifest’s mission, and we’re proud to join them in serving employers in both states.
Heather Cook, Vice President, Managed Care for Beacon Health System
The partnership is immediately available to employers of all sizes, regardless of their health plan. Employers interested in innovative, locally focused benefit strategies can contact Manifest or Beacon to discuss their specific goals.
Manifest is a healthcare solution design studio on a mission to build a better healthcare ecosystem, one designed with people at the center. Founded by former Michigan healthcare executives Rick Abbott and Aaron Friedkin, MD, Manifest creates human-centered, connected systems that reimagine how care works for employers, providers, and benefits agencies in areas like primary care, behavioral health, orthopaedics, surgery, maternity care, cancer care, imaging, and infusions. By incubating and scaling high-quality solutions with local providers, from independent practices to hospitals, we make it easier and more affordable for employees to receive exceptional care close to home.
Media contact: hello@manifest.health
Beacon Health System is a locally owned, nonprofit healthcare system serving patients across northern Indiana and southwest Michigan. Our nearly 11,000 associates and 2,500 medical staff providers, who are deeply rooted in our region, provide exceptional care with heartfelt compassion at Beacon Children’s Hospital, Beacon Granger Hospital, Community Hospital of Bremen, Elkhart General Hospital, Memorial Epworth Center, Memorial Hospital of South Bend, Three Rivers Health, Beacon Kalamazoo, Beacon Allegan, Beacon Dowagiac and Beacon Plainwell. We are committed to serving underinsured and uninsured patients, furthering our commitment to community health and well-being. With our teams at Beacon Medical Group, Memorial Family Medicine Residency Program, Beacon Health Foundation and Beacon Health & Fitness, and through our partnership with Western Michigan University Homer Stryker M.D. School of Medicine, we are dedicated to delivering patient-centered care at every step of your health journey. Connect with us at BeaconHealthSystem.org.
MEDIA CONTACT:
ealong@beaconhealthsystem.org