Flagship Initiatives
West Virginia's RHT Program will deliver results through seven flagship initiatives. These initiatives will leverage short-term investments to catalyze long-term independence, making rural West Virginia a national example of sustainable, locally led transformation.
- Connected Care Grid increases telehealth access both at home and at community facilities such as schools and libraries. Those facilities will serve as clinics for providers and patients. Mobile healthcare units will reach into the communities.
- Rural Health Link utilizes a variety of transportation options including public buses, rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, and private vehicles to ensure patients make their medical appointments on time.
- Mountain State Care Force is focused on recruiting, training, and retaining medical professionals throughout the state starting in high school. There are also incentives designed to attract out-of-state professionals and encourage continued skills training for local providers.
- Smart Care Catalyst provides rural practices with technology and administrative support to reduce expenses. By focusing on a value-based care model, providers will now be incentivized to improve outcomes thereby decreasing overall costs.
- Health to Prosperity Pipeline works with employers to increase opportunities for job seekers who are in recovery or under care for chronic conditions. If already employed, WV RHT Program supports workplace health and wellness programs to promote prevention and care.
- Personal Health Accelerator empowers West Virginians to eat healthier, move more, and lead productive lives by embracing statewide competitions, prevention and treatment programs, nutritional education, and caregiving support.
- HealthTech Appalachia funds the development and commercialization of new healthcare technology. Successful technologies will improve healthcare around the country and help jumpstart the state’s economy.
The Connected Care Grid
Many rural West Virginians struggle finding care simply because providers are too far away. The Connected Care Grid is designed to eliminate that barrier by creating a system that brings healthcare directly to communities whenever possible. Telehealth access will be made available across hospitals, clinics, schools, libraries, and other community hubs, providing patients with limited broadband a reliable location to connect with their providers. These locations will also serve as in-person care sites, where clinicians can regularly provide routine care close to home.
To support this network, the state will equip healthcare “hubs and spokes” with the technology, equipment, and broadband integration needed for modern telehealth. Mobile healthcare units will transport clinicians into rural communities, while EMTs will receive additional training to provide treatment in place and reduce unnecessary emergency room visits. A statewide scheduling and referral platform will connect virtual, in-person, and home-based services, ensuring patients can move easily between levels of care. A unified data system will help providers coordinate more effectively and deliver better, faster treatment.
When care must happen in person and travel is unavoidable, the Connected Care Grid will link directly with the new Rural Health Link initiative to ensure patients get where they need to go. That program will expand transportation options through public transit, rideshare services, and community vehicles, making it far easier for people to keep medical appointments. Together, these efforts will allow more West Virginians to receive timely, consistent care, improving health outcomes across the state.
Rural Health Link
West Virginians in rural communities often struggle to reach medical appointments due to limited or unreliable transportation. Rural Health Link is designed to fix that problem by providing patients with more options to get the care they need. The program will connect people with everything from public buses to rideshare services like Uber and Lyft, as well as volunteer drivers and private vehicles offered through churches, nonprofits, and other community groups.
By creating a single, easy-to-use system that brings together non-emergency medical transportation, public transit, and community ride programs, Rural Health Link will make it much simpler for patients to schedule a trip to the doctor. The initiative will also provide grants to help local transit agencies purchase vehicles, hire drivers, and expand service in areas that have long been underserved.
Rural Health Link will also work closely with EMS providers, hospitals, and clinics to build a transportation network that gets patients where they need to go quickly and efficiently. When people can reliably make it to their appointments, they stay healthier, avoid unnecessary hospital visits, and save money. This initiative will help ensure that no West Virginian misses care simply because they cannot find a ride.
Mountain State Care Force
West Virginia faces a growing shortage of doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals, especially in rural counties. Every rural county in the state is already designated a healthcare shortage area, and nearly a quarter of rural providers are nearing retirement. The Mountain State Care Force is a comprehensive effort to reverse that trend by recruiting, training, and retaining the healthcare workforce West Virginia needs for the future.
The Mountain State Care Force will begin reaching out to students as early as high school, introducing them to healthcare careers and creating pathways into jobs close to home. The plan will add faculty and instructors at community and technical colleges so more students can be trained, expand rural residencies and fellowships across key specialties, and build new apprenticeships and entry-level career opportunities through the Learn & Earn model. These steps will increase training capacity and open doors for West Virginians who want to enter the field.
To strengthen the workforce in rural communities, the Mountain State Care Force will offer financial incentives and “return-to-home” scholarships for clinicians who commit to serving in rural areas. It will also support workers already in the system by helping them move up the career ladder through additional training and credentials, both in-person and online. By coordinating closely with hospitals, universities, and workforce programs, the Mountain State Care Force will help ensure that every community has the skilled healthcare professionals it needs.
Smart Care Catalyst
The Smart Care Catalyst supports tech innovation, regulatory relief, and incentives for rural healthcare facilities to reduce costs while delivering an increased level of care. This includes technology and productivity grants for much-needed upgrades to small hospitals and rural clinics so they can modernize care while cutting costs in the long run. Also included are plans to expand collaboratives for group purchasing and partnerships for administrative efficiency, further reducing costs on facilities that serve rural populations in the state.
West Virginians deserve confidence that the cost of their healthcare reflects its value and quality. Supporting rural providers in adopting value-based payment models is a revolutionary step towards prioritizing healthcare outcomes over the volume of services.
Health to Prosperity Pipeline
The Health to Prosperity Pipeline is designed to revitalize West Virginia's workforce by connecting individuals with chronic illnesses or those in addiction recovery with sustainable employment. The approach integrates improved, coordinated healthcare to ensure conditions are properly managed with dedicated job placement services.
The pipeline will also enhance addiction treatment to expand the state's drug-free workforce. Coordinators will actively partner with employers to cultivate and increase job opportunities for participants in recovery or under care for a chronic condition.
To sustain long-term employment and employee health, the program will also support workplace health and wellness initiatives, emphasizing prevention and rapid injury care. Additionally, employers who hire participants from the Health to Prosperity Pipeline will be eligible for support to help offset any potential higher healthcare costs.
Personal Health Accelerator
The Personal Health Accelerator is a major statewide effort to help residents, especially in rural areas, achieve healthier, longer lives. It focuses on critical lifestyle factors like nutrition, physical activity, and smoking to reduce high rates of preventable chronic diseases.
The program will build a statewide wellness infrastructure that provides education, financial incentives, a local health support including "food as medicine" and physical activity programs, directly into communities. It supports the return of the Presidential Fitness Test statewide by 2028.
To measure success, the Accelerator will integrate nutrition and wellness data with the state’s health information systems and the Connected Care Grid, allowing for accurate tracking of health outcomes. Communities will compete in a Local Health Challenge for investments in local wellness assets. The initiative will also fund innovative demonstrations (e.g., diabetes reversal, smoking cessation) and utilize remote patient monitoring so that West Virginians can lead healthier lives, improve fitness, and reduce chronic disease.
HealthTech Appalachia
The HealthTech Appalachia initiative will invest in technologies that address chronic disease, addiction, and promote personal wellness. Acting as a public-private innovation fund, where the state partners with medical experts and investors to select and finance promising solutions with both seed and adoption grants, the initiative will utilize cutting-edge health technologies such as digital apps, AI, and remote monitoring across rural communities.
This program also addresses the state's high rates of chronic disease by investing in technologies for addiction treatment, chronic disease management, healthy living, prevention, and new care models such as home services. Ultimately, HealthTech Appalachia aims to establish West Virginia as a leader in rural health innovation, expand access to modern tools, and create lasting improvements in health outcomes for its residents.