Impact Health is committed to ensuring every family member, friend, coworker, schoolmate, and community member living in Western North Carolina (WNC) can access healthy opportunities. Our nonprofit leads a network of over 60 human service organizations (HSOs) in this effort. We also support the care managers and NC Medicaid health plans involved in North Carolina’s Healthy Opportunities Pilot (HOP).
HOP is a groundbreaking program that uses Medicaid funds to improve access to nutritious food, safe housing, and reliable transportation. HOP also increases access to services that support safe and healthy relationships. Research indicates that these social drivers of health influence up to 80 percent of a person’s wellbeing. By addressing these critical needs, the pilot aims to improve health while reducing healthcare spending.
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“I felt like I was drowning out here, and then ‘BAM,’ HOP stepped in and changed our lives. The roof looks better than I could ever imagine. I feel better emotionally and physically, and I’m more rested than I have been in my entire life!”
“Impact Health’s support has allowed us to educate our community about Medicaid Expansion and HOP. We have been able to ensure that returning citizens get housing and transportation support. This initiative has helped us normalize the idea that mental health is health.”
“It’s so affirming to hear reports from HOP clients whose physicians have put them on special diets to improve medical diagnoses. They share with us that they have seen an improvement in their health as a result of receiving our healthy fruit and vegetable boxes.”
received support with finding, securing, and moving into stable housing. More received help modifying existing homes to make them safer.
were provided across WNC to support families’ weekly nutritional needs.
helped WNC residents meet nonmedical, health-related needs like accessing healthy food.
were delivered to support healthy relationships and effective parenting skills.
In the days and weeks following Hurricane Helene, community-based organizations were among the first to respond to the critical needs of WNC residents. Thanks to the generosity of philanthropic partners like Dogwood Health Trust, Impact Health was able to allocate $2.7 million in grant funding to local organizations working across the region. Impact Health’s robust network enabled rapid distribution of funds where they were most needed. WNC HOP service providers could then focus on ensuring families had access to nutritious food, safe housing, reliable transportation, and support for healthy relationships – all resources that are significantly strained during natural disasters.
Photos clockwise from top: Potable water distribution at Safe Shelter, regional food distribution by C2Life, housing repair by Community Housing Coalition of Madison County, and fresh produce distribution through UNETE.
“Impact Health’s support was vital to our ability to respond rapidly to the nutritional needs of our neighbors impacted by the devastation of Hurricane Helene. We already had boots on the ground doing whatever we could, but the grant funding distributed rapidly by Impact Health enabled us to say, ‘let’s go!’”
Inaugural WNC HSO Learning Summit at MAHEC
Impact Health invests $400K in WNC Community Health Workforce through yearlong collaboration
NC Medicaid Tailored Plan members become eligible for HOP
Impact Health establishes physician-led nonprofit clinically integrated network (Impact Primary Care Network)
Hurricane Helene devastates Western North Carolina
Impact Health distributes $670K in emergency funding from Dogwood Health Trust to 67 hurricane-impacted organizations
WNC HOP network supports 10K HOP participants
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approves North Carolina’s 1115 Waiver, authorizing HOP for another 5 years
Impact Health allocates additional hurricane relief funding to network organizations, bringing the total relief grants to $2.7M
Impact Primary Care Network (IPCN) begins providing care management services to participating WNC practices on January 1
