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!

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.

The Duke-Margolis Institute for Health Policy has just published a Community Fact Sheet summarizing the findings of their research paper exploring the design and implementation of, and lessons learned from, the delivery of housing support services via NC Medicaid's Healthy Opportunities Pilot as a way to reduce healthcare costs and improve health outcomes and quality of life for recipients.

Western North Carolina nonprofit JMPRO Community Media has launched the WNC Hurricane Helene Audio Storyline podcast. It’s purpose is to hear what people are saying and promote solidarity, build a qualitative account of the strengths and challenges of regional disaster response, let others know what it has been like for residents, and encourage long term support of the region.

On Oct 4th, Dogwood Health Trust announced more than $30 million dollars in initial funding for Hurricane Helene relief efforts in Western North Carolina to support deployment of resources and response to urgent needs, assessment, navigation and legal services associated with FEMA response and maintaining critical health services across the region.

The WNC Health Policy Initiative has held several listening and working sessions relating to the needs and challenges facing aging adults, children in the foster care system, and affordable housing. Bridge Meadows, a multigenerational housing community in Oregon, offers an example of how to build intersectional, supportive environments to address these and other such issues.

Identifying and implementing a long-term plan to create a sustainable, well-funded child care system in North Carolina is critical to avoiding the severe negative impacts that losing this critical infrastructure would create, and is a priority focus area for the WNC Health Policy Initiative.

The WNC Early Childhood Coalition, a key partner in the WNC HPI’s Early Childhood Education workgroup, has launched their Yes On Child Care campaign to boost awareness of these issues and to provide opportunities for engagement and advocacy.

A new initiative launched by the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), co-host of the WNC Health Policy Initiative, offers an innovative housing solution for medical residents serving in rural Western North Carolina - purpose-built, energy-efficient tiny homes placed exactly where they’re needed most.

Across America, 41% of adults struggle with medical bills they cannot pay, a situation that comes with significant financial, emotional and even physical costs, including reduced access to necessary healthcare. On July 26th, 2024 North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper and the NC Department of Health and Human Services took a huge step toward alleviating that burden with the introduction of the Medical Debt Relief Incentive Program, which will eliminate medical debt for millions of Medicaid recipients and middle- and low-income residents across the state. 

Facing a dramatically shrinking healthcare workforce, Western North Carolina has identified innovative ways to support and expand the influence of a key role for increasing access among those most vulnerable and most often left behind - Community Health Workers.

North Carolina Community Health Worker Association President, Honey Yang Estrada talks about the role of Community Health Workers in increasing healthcare access, reducing healthcare workforce strain and improving public health at the community level.

Home to over 70 different languages and high levels of illiteracy, communication barriers in healthcare facilities make accessing healthcare difficult for a large portion of Western North Carolina.

To learn more about language access in our region, NCCHW's audio producer Andrew Rainey speaks with Buncombe County’s Language Access Coordinator, Aaron Vidaurri, the Health Access Programs Manager at the WNC Medical Society Interpreter Network, Rosalia McHattie, Dr Leah Karliner, professor of medicine at the University of CA, San Francisco, Maggie Woods and Gretchen Ramirez from NC’s Division of Broadband Access & Digital Equity, and co-founder of the Cenzotle Language Justice Cooperative, Monse Ramirez, in 'Part 3' of this WNC HPI podcast miniseries.

On May 30, 2024, the Department of Health and Human Services, through its Administration for Community Living, released its “Aging in the United States: A Strategic Framework for a National Plan on Aging” report, which “lays the groundwork for a coordinated effort…to create a national set of recommendations for advancing healthy aging and age-friendly communities that value and truly include older adults.”

Learn more about North Carolina efforts to address health-related social needs via Medicaid and CHIP that are paving the way for a new approach to preventive healthcare and chronic disease management via non-medical social interventions, and that could serve as models for other states and Medicaid programs interested in exploring ways to address health-related social needs.

Despite substantial healthcare spending, chronic illnesses remain the biggest threat to premature death and disability, particularly among working-aged individuals. These trends undermine our economy and threaten long-term fiscal and economic well-being in our region, state, and nation. In response, the 2024 WNC Legislative Caucus is committed to addressing three pressing healthcare policy issues: Social Care Delivery Systems, NC Medicaid Expansion, and Workforce Development.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Learn more about regional and national data, educational and support information, opportunities engagement, and other resources relating to mental and behavioral health needs, impacts, challenges and solutions.

North Carolina, like the rest of the United States, is facing a massive healthcare workforce shortage. With the state in need of nurses, caregivers, behavioral health specialists, physicians, and public health workers, a number of initiatives across the state are seeking to increase our healthcare workforce. 

While some collaborations are looking big picture…in WNC…other initiatives are exposing students to the healthcare field and are building pathways for those students to enter that workforce. One program led by the North Carolina Center for Health & Wellness (NCCHW), Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), and the Dogwood Health Trust, in partnership with a number of universities in that region, have connected students to the critical field of healthcare with the Student Health Ambassador (SHA) program.

North Carolina ranks 39th in the nation for access to mental health care. Four million state residents — two in every five North Carolinians — live in an area with a mental health professional shortage and the situation is worse in rural counties, which have only 0.58 psychiatrists to every 10,000 people, compared to 1.79 per 10,000 in urban ones. 

While the APA indicates that telehealth can be especially effective for depression, ADHD, and PTSD, not all mental health conditions are equally suited for telehealth.  However, with such a severe mental health provider shortage in the region, doctors and patients — especially those in rural Western North Carolina — have to rely on telehealth, provided they have sufficient internet access. (Reprinted with permission from Carolina Public Press)