Announcing the release of the WNC Health Policy Initiative 2024-2025 Impact Report. Download the report to see highlights of the policy work that our Western North Carolina health and healthcare leadership partners have done together over the past year, and the impacts and outcomes that work has generated.

A year after the storm, the WNC Health Policy Initiative, in partnership with the NC Center for Health and Wellness, has launched a study to explore how health system leaders navigated the challenges of Hurricane Helene: what worked, what didn’t, and what must change to strengthen our regional response in future crises. Through interviews and qualitative research, the team is gathering critical insights to shape smarter, more resilient practices for health organizations, communities, and governments across WNC. In this episode, our research team shares how this study was developed, why it matters, and what they hope to achieve.

The Western North Carolina Health Policy Initiative (HPI) has launched a new podcast series that takes a deep dive into a new WNC HPI research project exploring what we can learn about our region’s healthcare response in the days and weeks following Hurricane Helene’s devastating landfall across Western North Carolina on the evening of Sept 27, 2024.

This project is one of 21 Helene-focused research efforts supported by the North Carolina Collaboratory, and is driven by team members from across the North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness (NCCHW) and UNC Asheville’s Health Sciences department who are working to capture this critical piece of our region’s recent history.

In this episode, UNCA student intern Emma Hoosier shares her perspective on the healthcare workforce shortage in Western North Carolina. Through her internship experience, she reflects on conversations with local providers and community members about the challenges facing the region — and the potential solutions emerging from local insights, state initiatives, and national policy discussions. She also shares her own path to becoming an intern with the NCCHW, offering a glimpse into how other students in WNC can get involved in public health efforts across the mountains.

On September 26 Hurricane Helene tore through Western North Carolina, destroying homes, businesses, roads, and entire towns. Recovery has been ongoing in intervening months, but there are still years - perhaps decades - of recovery ahead of the region.

Policymakers and communities in Western North Carolina need to think and plan strategically when it comes to restoring housing in a fair and equitable way across a region already struggling with wage, housing and resource disparities. In today’s podcast, we hear from Andreanecia M. Morris, New Orleans housing advocate and Executive Director for HousingNOLA, about what Western North Carolina can learn from the lessons of communities who’ve fought hard to come back from similar disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, to ensure that our region is able to truly “build back better” by creating a housing environment that is WNC Strong, both for the immediate future and in perpetuity.

In this series, the Western North Carolina Health Policy Initiative podcast explores the Healthy Opportunities Pilot program from a few perspectives to help educate our listeners and policymakers about what's on the table in light of state budget cuts to the program. In this installment, we hear about the impact of the HOP from the perspectives of the WNC network lead, a participating HSO, and two families with children enrolled.

This summer, North Carolina's House and Senate will be working to finalize our biennial budget on June 30th, beginning July 1st, 2025 and covering the next two fiscal years. Inside this budget is the fate of what's known as an Innovative Pilot Program across three regions, including Western North Carolina: the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a program that uses Medicaid funding to address some upstream health issues like food access, transportation, housing, and interpersonal violence. By addressing these root issues, the program hopes to both improve health outcomes for North Carolinians, saving them and the state money. In this short series of the Western North Carolina Health Policy Initiative podcast, we'll be taking a look at this pilot program from a few perspectives to help educate our listeners and policymakers about what's on the table. Today we'll look at an evaluation of HOP to better understand how the program is working and its impact on the state's bottom line.

On May 1, 2025, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein officially proclaimed May as Mental Health Awareness Month. Mental health is a critical issue for Western North Carolina, with 11% of respondents to regional health assessment surveys report having considered suicide in past year, up from 7% in 2021, and 20% report being unable to access needed mental health services. In the wake of Hurricane Helene, greater resources, awareness, programs, and policy supports are needed to support the mental health of all Western North Carolinians.

On April 29th, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), U.S. Representatives Debbie Dingell (MI-06) and Pramila Jayapal (WA-07) introduced the Medicare for All Act of 2025 to the US Congress. This legislation would provide comprehensive Medicare coverage to every American with no premiums, no co-payments and no deductibles, and would expand Medicare to include dental, hearing, and vision care. Estimates indicate that a Medicare for All system could save $650 billion and 68,000 lives every year.

On Friday, March 14th, 2025, the WNC Health Policy Initiative (a project of the NC Center for Health and Wellness at UNC Asheville), in partnership with the WNC Early Childhood Coalition, YMCA of WNC, and Verner Center for Early Learning, hosted a legislative summit on the University’s campus to highlight the importance of developing long-term, sustainable investments and solutions in childcare, both for our region and across the state.

On March 10th, North Carolina Governor Josh Stein announced an executive order establishing a new Task Force for Child Care and Early Education “to identify strengths and gaps in the current system, recommend key public and private investment in child care infrastructure, and work to recruit and retain a strong child care workforce.”

CaroNova and partners have announced the development of a major effort to ensure youth across North Carolina have increased access to the behavioral health services they need. Changing Minds: The North Carolina Youth Behavioral Health Action Plan will bring together state leaders, subject matter experts, philanthropic funders, and other stakeholders to develop a comprehensive plan that more effectively delivers youth mental health services. On Monday, March 10, 2025, CaroNova along with partners outlined how this action plan will be developed.

A new study recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association demonstrates that Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in NC’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) showed an overall decrease in Medicaid spending compared to non-HOP enrollees and reduced utilization of emergency services - all indicators that correlate to improved health outcomes.

In the wake of Hurricane Helene, Western North Carolina faces not only the physical and economic challenges of recovery, but also the pressing need for a renewed focus on the state’s already strained early childhood education infrastructure. Childcare teachers are the workforce behind the workforce, enabling families to return to work, businesses to reopen, and vital services to resume. As communities rebuild, it is essential that legislators prioritize policies that strengthen childcare resources to support families’ and businesses’ recovery in Western North Carolina and ensure statewide economic stability and growth.

North Carolina is facing a childcare crisis, with limited access, high costs, and workforce shortages impacting families and the economy. NC's childcare gap contributes to a $5 billion annual economic loss, affecting workforce participation and local revenue. Solutions like stabilization grants and public-private partnerships are helping, but long-term investment is needed for sustainable results.

As 2024 draws to a close, we wanted to take a moment to look back at everything we’ve accomplished in the previous 12 months. Enjoy this roundup of HPI activities, blog posts, podcasts, events, and other highlights from our work this year, showcasing the collective impact we’ve made together. Here's to another year of sharing knowledge and sparking meaningful conversations!

In December, 2024, CMS approved a new 1115 waiver renewing funding and expansion opportunities for several programs, including the successful NC Healthy Opportunities Pilot, which uses Medicaid funds to provide social determinants of health interventions such as housing, food, transportation and other supports to Medicaid beneficiaries as a cost-savings measure to improve health outcomes and to prevent or manage chronic disease.

Dec. 1, 2024 marks the first anniversary of Medicaid expansion in North Carolina, which has expanded affordable health care coverage to nearly 600,000 North Carolinians. Learn how NC Medicaid expansion has impacted access to health care in your county, and join us in celebrating this landmark health policy milestone in NC.

In the wake of the hurricane, the NC Center for Health and Wellness and Social Bridging NC have produced two resources to support older adults and others affected by this event across the region, including responders and others working on the relief efforts: A webpage of curated long-term resources and a mini-guide of best practices for providing trauma-informed support through wellness checks in person or by phone.

The National Council on Aging has launched a new toolkit for community-based organizations designed to provide a roadmap for promoting and expanding evidence-based programs for health promotion and chronic disease self-management in rural communities.