WHAT WE DO
Each week, the WNC Health Policy Initiative, co-hosted by the NC Center for Health and Wellness at UNC Asheville and the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC), brings together policy makers, industry experts, clinical and public healthcare professionals, community leaders, researchers, and others engaged in regional health practice to discuss some of the most challenging issues related to improving the health of Western North Carolinians.
OUR MISSION
To inform strategies for improving the health and well-being of all people of WNC through scholarship, collaboration, policy development, and advocacy.
The WNC Health Policy Initiative was created to serve as a convener of and conduit for information, resources, and coalition-building between 5 core groups:
Policy Makers
Healthcare Leadership and Professionals
Community-Based Service Organizations
Educational and Research Institutions
Community Members
Our shared goal is to work together to come up with solutions to address our region's unique challenges. In particular, we seek sustainable pathways to:
Improve equitable access to care for everyone in WNC.
Reduce the overall cost of care and financial burden to our communities, businesses, and institutions.
Improve the overall health of our community members.
AREAS WE SERVE
The Health Policy Initiative represents 18 counties and the Qualla Boundary in Western North Carolina.
Focus Areas
Conditions in the places where people live, learn, work, and play affect a wide range of health and quality-of-life outcomes. An area of focus for the HPI is looking for ways for rural WNC residents to be better able to access reliable transportation, nutritious food, economic opportunities and safe and affordable housing.
Doctors, nurses and other health and social care workers are in short supply in WNC. An area of focus for the HPI is developing and supporting pathways for people from WNC to train and succeed in these careers, addressing challenges to workforce recruitment and retention, and exploring policy solutions that would allow providers to build more financially and operationally sustainable practices.
Patients and care providers in WNC experience barriers to receiving and administering care that are unique and complex due to the rurality of the region's physical (and cultural) landscape. An area of focus for the HPI is coordinating efforts to establish synergistic working relationships between interested parties across the region in key priority areas, such as rural primary health, Medicaid expansion and transformation, maternal and child health, mental health, substance use disorders, and other similar issues.
FRIDAY FORUMS
Come for the bagel bites, stay for the conversation.
Learn more about the topics we cover at WNC Health Policy Initiative’s Friday Forums. WNC HPI meets Friday mornings to discuss topics related to health, healthcare, and health policy that impact individuals, communities and organizations in WNC.