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The new Collaborative for Healthy Rural America will offer an artificial intelligence-enabled primary care operations platform, its founders say, including virtual care providers, data integration services, a mobile patient engagement app and efficacy monitoring.
The goal is to help states with their plans to be approved under the federal Rural Health Transformation Program (RHTP).
With shared infrastructure, unified data and modern technology, the CHRA partners – which include Lumeris, Teladoc Health, Deloitte, Nuna and Unite Us – aim to expand care access and improve health outcomes in rural communities.
WHY IT MATTERS
Shared resources could help states quickly implement their plans to be approved under the $50 billion RHTP, which is administered by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, CHRA said in a joint announcement on Monday.
"We formed this collaborative to give states an immediate execution path towards their visions, with an AI-driven operating platform of class-leading technologies," said John Doerr, chairman of Kleiner Perkins, the firm behind the Collaborative for Healthy Rural America.
"The Rural Health Transformation Program makes possible a new paradigm for healthcare access and delivery for millions of rural Americans," he said.
A primary-care-as-a-service platform by Lumeris and its workflows are to function as the backbone technology, which is also embedded with a Google Cloud AI-powered agent – Tom.
It's paired with Telacdoc Health's virtual care providers, including licensed clinicians, therapists and health coaches to offer primary care, 24/7 urgent care, mental health and chronic care services. According to Teladoc Health, it has the largest nationwide network of clinicians, therapists and health coaches offering virtual care delivery.
Also on board is Nuna, an AI-native platform and mobile app for virtual coaching services for chronic disease. Its "daily coach" supports patients in following their doctors' care plans, and the platform sends data to clinical care teams to intervene when necessary.
Deloitte will execute the program and oversee alignment of state efforts with CMS' RHTP guidelines by managing interoperability, data integration across IT platforms, and analytics to propel and measure program outcomes, the announcement said.
A Self Sufficiency Score from Unite Us will establish the system's quality benchmarking for measuring the efficacy of rural medical, behavioral and community support services delivered through the integrated care coordination and payment platform.
THE LARGER TREND
Since 2005, nearly 190 rural hospitals have closed and more than 600 remain financially at risk, CHRA said in a statement. That problem is compounded by research that found that 200 million Americans either lack access to primary care or receive fragmented or suboptimal care.
Amid steep Medicaid cuts, the $50 billion funding program earmarked in the Working Families Tax Cuts Act as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill is a strategy to establish stable and sustainable rural healthcare through an innovative care delivery system and payment models.
While the grant program offers a significant opportunity to enhance states' rural health initiatives, applicants have been facing inherent challenges in providing quality care with advanced technologies and digital health strategies, according to Valerie Rogers, senior government relations director at HIMSS, the parent company of Healthcare IT News.
States, however, have had a limited time frame for developing comprehensive plans for their grant applications during the ongoing government shutdown that began on Oct. 1, and as of press time, their proposals are still due by Wednesday.
It has "generated anxiety among potential applicants regarding their applications' viability," Rogers said last week.
ON THE RECORD
"CHRA was founded to leverage the government’s catalytic Rural Health Transformation investment as seed capital for a strategic, private-sector–funded solution to rural healthcare,” Mike Long, Lumeris' chief executive officer, said in a statement.
"The mission of CHRA aligns with Google Cloud’s efforts to help healthcare organizations improve operations and help clinicians provide better care, through the use of AI and cloud technologies," added Aashima Gupta, the tech giant's global director of healthcare strategy and solutions. "There is no better place to advance this work than underserved populations in rural America."
Andrea Fox is senior editor of Healthcare IT News.
Email: afox@himss.org
Healthcare IT News is a HIMSS Media publication.
