On May 1st, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced that Impact Health would serve as the Region 1 lead for the North Carolina Rural Organizations Orchestrating Transformation for Sustainability (ROOTS) Hub for the state’s Rural Health Transformation Program (NCRHTP). These Hubs will act as regional networks connecting medical, behavioral health, and social supports as North Carolina increases access to care for rural communities across all 100 counties.

On October 31, the WNC HPI convened with our working group leads for a briefing to share progress and align next steps across the WNC HPI’s three core focus areas: Social Drivers of Health (SDOH), Access to Healthcare, and Healthcare Workforce Development. In this summary update, we share key takeaways, themes and action items drawn from the Oct 31 briefing to provide a roadmap of the working group’s activities over the next several months.

On September 15, 2025, CMS released a Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the Rural Health Transformation Program outlining key requirements, deadlines, and criteria that states will need to apply for this funding, which is intended to support improvements to rural healthcare systems as well as health outcomes in rural areas. In this article, we share key takeaways from this announcement.