More than 100 million Americans face challenges in accessing primary care, a situation the National Association of Community Health Centers attributes to a shortage of providers in many geographic areas. At the 2025 ViVE conference in Nashville, Tenn., leaders from rural health systems and community health centers explored strategies to ensure access to care for underserved populations, emphasizing the need for solutions tailored to their unique circumstances, rather than simply adopting new technologies.
“How do we keep community health centers from being left behind?” asked Johanna Liu, president and CEO of the San Francisco Community Clinic Consortium, a primary care safety net system with 12 member clinics. “Some of my clinics have one IT person supporting them.”
Community health centers often serve patients with diverse language needs, insurance coverage levels, and social determinants of health, such as food or housing insecurity. Addressing these complexities requires a deeper understanding of the communities. Brian Haile, president and CEO of Nashville-based Neighborhood Health, shared how the organization incorporates practical offers when asking about food insecurity during patient surveys. “What we really do is focus on what we can achieve and help patients with,” Haile said.
Artificial intelligence (AI) was a prominent discussion topic at the conference, with community health centers eyeing AI features to help free up administrative time for providers. Multilanguage capabilities in these tools are also highly sought after. Haile pointed out that many patients are already using AI solutions, even if their providers aren’t.
Ultimately, improving care access must involve provider organizations at the grassroots level, according to Liu. Even though these centers are adept at “doing more with less,” she argued that they shouldn’t have to.
In a separate session, Rachelle Schultz, president and CEO of Minnesota-based Winona Health, echoed a similar sentiment about solutions for care access in rural communities coming from those communities. “We are people first. We are high-touch first. I think we have to be careful that we’re not interrupting what are really valued relationships that people have with their doctors, nurses, therapists and so forth, and making it too techy, because at the heart of it, it is the connection of people. We can swing too far if we’re not paying attention,” Schultz said.
Schultz encouraged organizations to embrace innovation: “Get started. Do something. The status quo isn’t working.”
Winona Health, which has served its community for over 130 years, was an early adopter of electronic health record systems. In recent years, challenges like reduced capacity at referral facilities and workforce shortages, particularly in pharmacy, have emerged. Schultz mentioned how implementing automated solutions for pharmacy techs has been beneficial. However, changes like cuts in clinical rotations mean that incoming staff may not be fully prepared for their new roles. Because of this, Winona Health uses a simulation lab to train future and current clinicians.
Workforce issues remain a top concern for rural organizations. Ryan Thousand, interim CIO at Montana-based Dahl Memorial Healthcare Association, reflected on the early days of his role. “When I came to the organization, we didn’t even have a ticketing system,” he said. “My IT team could fit into the trunk of a Prius. Later on, it got smaller, and it continues to do that.” For Thousand, optimizing the organization’s current technology stack has been his main focus instead of adding new solutions: “Rightsize your approach. Take a small step back, look at what’s going on around you, and understand that you might not be able to go out and tackle the world, but you can tackle little things at a time.”
Schultz also noted the promise of growing industry partnerships, such as Microsoft’s Rural Health AI Innovation Lab. AI has the potential to be a “big game changer,” but it won’t happen overnight, she said. It will require fixing processes and establishing supporting platforms. “Governance is an incredibly important step,” said Scott McEachern, CIO at Oregon-based Southern Coos Hospital and Health Center. “Healthcare has come to the point where we need to have that governance broadly, but also at the local level, having policies instituted around AI.” Building trust is essential when implementing new technologies, McEachern added. “In order for us to accept and understand technology, we have to have those solid relationships, up and down, internally, but then also outside with our local community —partners, businesses, state representatives and also the other healthcare facilities,” he explained.
While rural healthcare organizations are evaluating AI solutions, telehealth has gained traction, despite connectivity issues, and is proving to be a valuable tool for providers. Dave Newman, chief medical officer of virtual care at South Dakota-based Sanford Health, shared an example of a neurosurgeon using virtual consults during a snowstorm, which prevented appointment rescheduling for patients. Telehealth offers a way for specialists to continue their practice. “They can work one or two days a week virtually, and they can continue to see their patients that way,” Newman said. “We’re getting providers who want to extend their careers through virtual care.” Faith Polkey, CEO of Beaufort-Jasper-Hampton Comprehensive Health Services Inc., said that data-based insights on telehealth can help convince hesitant providers. “Patients are excited about it when we’re excited about it,” she said. “I don’t see how you would ever go back. It has to be a part of what we do.”
