Morrisey awards $500,000 to expand rural health technology

Governor Patrick Morrisey announced a $500,000 Rural Health Transformation Program award for CHANGE Inc., a federally qualified health center serving Brooke and Hancock counties.

The first award from the state's Provider Productivity Support Fund will support a 24-hour AI-powered patient contact center for scheduling, refill requests, referrals, billing questions, and other routine needs. CHANGE Inc. also plans to add clinical documentation tools intended to reduce providers' administrative workload.

The project will expand chronic care management from 41 patients to at least 90 and add remote monitoring for patients with diabetes and hypertension. State officials said the technology is intended to improve communication between visits, identify problems earlier, and give healthcare professionals more time for patient care.