NCDHHS Selects Impact Health as Region 1 NC ROOTS Hub Lead
Via a May 1st announcement from the NC Dept. of Health and Human Services:
The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services today announced the selection of organizations to serve as leads for the North Carolina Rural Organizations Orchestrating Transformation for Sustainability (ROOTS) Hub for the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program (NCRHTP). Together, these organizations will work as regional networks connecting medical, behavioral health, and social supports as North Carolina increases access to care for rural communities across all 100 counties.
"Ensuring communities, providers, and stakeholders continue to be at the forefront of our efforts to transform the health and well-being of the more than 3.5 million rural residents in North Carolina is crucial," said NC Health and Human Services Secretary Dev Sangvai. "By investing in strong regional partnerships, we are creating a healthier, more connected rural health system that serves North Carolinians when and where they need it."
The selected NC ROOTS Hub Leads are locally governed networks representing each of the North Carolina Medicaid regions that will coordinate care and implement NCRHTP initiatives.
The NC ROOTS Hub Lead awardees include:
Impact Health – Region 1
Trillium Health Resources – Region 2 and 5
Vaya Health – Region 3
University of North Carolina Hospitals – Region 4
Access East, Inc. – Region 6
The organizations were selected through a competitive process (pdf) to ensure they demonstrated the knowledge, experience, infrastructure, and capacity to serve as both the programmatic and fiduciary leads for their regions. These organizations will work with NCDHHS to finalize contracts by June 1, 2026.
Following a regional needs assessment, the NC ROOTS Hub Leads will establish local networks of partner organizations focused on strengthening the rural health care infrastructure. Over the next five years, tailored to their regions’ needs, NC ROOTS Hubs will support rural communities by:
Improving behavioral health and substance use services
Enhancing care coordination across regions
Leveraging digital tools to improve outcomes
Expanding access to primary care
Strengthening health care through workforce development
"Where you live should not determine your access to high-quality care," said NCDHHS Deputy Secretary for Health Debra Farrington. "Our selected NC ROOTS Hub Leads will bring together voices from across the state to deliver coordinated, impactful services that foster better outcomes and address the unique challenges our rural communities face."
This announcement reflects continued progress in the implementation of the NCRHTP. NCDHHS remains on track with its year one strategy, advancing the foundational infrastructure necessary to address immediate needs and support the program’s sustainability.
Funded through a $213,008,356.47 investment from the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the RHTP is a statewide initiative led by NCDHHS designed to improve health outcomes, support sustainable access to care, and advance health care delivery for rural communities. The program will support more than 400 rural health facilities and bring hundreds of millions of dollars in federal investment to the state over the next five years.
North Carolina has the second-largest rural population in the country, and NCDHHS is committed to advancing innovative strategies through investments and initiatives that support high-quality care for all North Carolinians. For more information, visit the North Carolina Rural Health Transformation Program website.
Impact Health was a founding partner of the WNC Health Policy Initiative and the network lead for the WNC Healthy Opportunities Pilot, and they continue to support the initiative as part of our Leadership Team and as a deeply involved and valued partner. We are excited to congratulate Impact Health CEO Laurie Stradley and her team for this achievement. It is deeply gratifying to see the organization’s value to the region being recognized in this way, and look forward to their continued leadership in implementing Rural Health Transformation programming across WNC.
Disclaimer
Individual opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this post are those of the author(s)/interviewee(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the WNC Health Policy Initiative or its host institutions of the University of North Carolina Asheville (UNCA), Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) or our funders
