“The Root of Good Health” - A documentary about the successes and NC’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot
Image Credit: Screenshot from Roots of Good Health documentary/Beacon Media NC
Announcing the release of The Root of Good Health documentary film
“The Root of Good Health” documentary, produced by Resource Rural and in partnership with Beacon Media and Carolina Forward, shares stories that illustrates the good that North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP) has done for Western North Carolina, as well as the cost to the region, the people it served, and the local businesses and organizations it supported that have occurred as a result of losing this program due to North Carolina’s ongoing stalled budget negotiations.
In WNC, the Healthy Opportunities Pilot is operated by HOP Network Lead Impact Health, headed up by CEO Laurie Stradley, DrPh, who is featured in the documentary. Impact Health is a founding partner of the WNC HPI, and has staunchly advocated for the integration of health-related social needs (HRSN, also known as social drivers of health) services into clinical care, as well as to reduce both the need for health care and its associated costs by addressing the root causes of poor health.
Via YouTube, “The Root of Good Health shares what happened when North Carolina tried something different through the Healthy Opportunities Pilot. This program supported folks with everyday needs that shape health long before a doctor’s visit. People saw real changes in their lives, from managing chronic illness to simply being able to get to work or the grocery store.“
As former N.C. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Kody Kinsley noted in a recent panel, “North Carolina was the first state to conceive of this idea, which is how do we take dollars that we are holding onto until people get sick and actually use those dollars to keep them healthy. And I'll just be frank, I was surprised when, two years in, the program was as amazingly successful as it was.”
A Beacon Media release announcement goes on to share that, “In practice, that meant giving access to food, transportation and other services so that those on Medicaid can get healthy and stay healthy. The program worked — and it saved state and federal healthcare dollars.”
While there is broad bipartisan support for HOP and cause for optimism that the program will be re-funded and potentially even expanded once the state budget finally passes, it - along with everyone who depended on those services for their survival or livelihood - remain in limbo for as long as the NC General Assembly continue budget negotiations.
Learn More
Watch, share and promote The Roots of Health documentary via YouTube.
Check out the WNC HPI’s previous blog posts and podcast episodes featuring HOP below to learn more about the program, how it grew from its initial years into a successful national model for other states looking to implement similar programs, and the results it has achieved for North Carolina.
Get Engaged
Visit Impact Health’s Advocacy Tools webpage to access resources to support ongoing advocacy efforts to fully fund Healthy Opportunities and to expand the program statewide.
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.
