RALEIGH — The North Carolina Healthcare Foundation is launching a new four-year initiative to strengthen collaboration between hospitals and Federally Qualified Health Centers, also known as Community Health Centers, across North Carolina.
Supported by The Leon Levine Foundation, this initiative aims to improve access to care, strengthen care coordination, lower costs and improve health outcomes for the state’s most vulnerable populations.
While hospital–community health center partnerships exist in some communities, organizations across the state continue to face challenges related to data sharing, care coordination, quality improvement, and sustainable partnership infrastructure. Over the past year, NCHF has engaged hospitals and safety-net providers to better understand these barriers and begin identifying opportunities to strengthen collaboration.
Through this initiative, NCHF will support healthcare organizations in developing sustainable, patient-centered partnership models across the care continuum, with a focus on identifying best practices and resource gaps, advancing sustainable reimbursement strategies, strengthening data sharing and infrastructure, and co-designing practical tools to support scalable coordination.
“Strong partnerships between hospitals and community-based providers are essential to ensuring patients receive the right care, at the right time, in the right setting,” said Josh Dobson, president and CEO of the North Carolina Healthcare Association. “This initiative will support shared learning and collaboration to better serve patients and strengthen North Carolina’s healthcare safety net.”
“Too many families face barriers to timely, coordinated healthcare,” Tom Lawrence, president and CEO of The Leon Levine Foundation, said. “This initiative strengthens how hospitals and community health centers work together so that underserved Carolinians can access the care they need, when and where they need it most.”
The initiative will roll out in phases beginning in 2026. Tools and insights developed through the project will be shared statewide to promote long-term sustainability and lasting improvement across North Carolina’s healthcare system.
