Collaborative for Healthy Rural America (CHRA) Launches to Transform Rural Healthcare Nationwide
New coalition of innovators, including Lumeris, Teladoc Health, Nuna, Deloitte, and Unite Us, mobilizes to bring connected, sustainable care to millions of rural Americans.
Lumeris, a healthcare technology and services company announces the formation of a coalition, Collaborative for Healthy Rural America (CHRA)™ to help state leaders accelerate their efforts in the Rural Health Transformation Program (RHT) administered by Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) – the coalition includes Lumeris, Teladoc Health, Nuna, Deloitte, and Unite Us.
CHRA members will work together to deliver an AI-enabled interoperable operating platform that accelerates state RHT participants’ abilities to realize their visions. The platform will connect patients and clinicians—bringing national economies of scale to the local delivery of care in rural communities.
“The Rural Health Transformation Program makes possible a new paradigm for healthcare access and delivery for millions of rural Americans,” said John Doerr, chairman of Kleiner Perkins. “We formed this collaborative to give states an immediate execution path towards their visions, with an AI-driven operating platform of class-leading technologies.”
The need is urgent. Millions of Americans live in rural communities and many of them are covered by Medicaid and Medicare programs. According to the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, the nation faces a shortfall of more than 87,000 primary care physicians over the next decade, a gap especially acute in rural and underserved communities.
The American Hospital Association reports that nearly 190 rural hospitals have closed since 2005 and more than 600 remain financially at risk. These challenges have left millions of Americans without consistent access to basic care. According to a study by the National Association of Community Health Centers and Health Landscape at the American Academy of Family Physicians, more than 100 million Americans lack access to primary care, and another 100 million receive care that is fragmented or suboptimal.
CHRA aims to address these challenges through shared infrastructure, unified data, and modern technology. At the center is Primary Care as a Service (PCaaS)—a scalable platform to expand access, strengthen preventive care, improve chronic disease management, and coordinate care—while reducing administrative burden and stabilizing rural healthcare.
National scale, delivered locally
CHRA will adapt to the needs of each state while delivering benefits of scale—creating a flywheel of rising quality and lower costs.
“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,” added Mike Long, chief executive officer, Lumeris, a CHRA founding member. “We fully support RHT’s goal to build a sustainable rural healthcare delivery ecosystem for future generations—one that ultimately lifts the burden on strained state and federal budgets.”
“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. There is no better place to advance this work than underserved populations in rural America,” said Aashima Gupta, global director of healthcare strategy and solutions, Google Cloud.
Guiding Principles of the Collaborative
- Provide comprehensive, scalable, technology-driven healthcare solutions to serve rural Americans
- Share benefits of national economies of scale to serve rural community needs
- Track sustainability metrics such as reduced preventable hospitalizations, higher patient satisfaction, higher patient self-sufficiency, stabilized provider finances and reduced administrative burden
- Offer increased access nationwide within six months, and enhanced capabilities within 18 months, recognizing this goal may be limited by data access approvals and available infrastructure
- Fully leverage and extend the capabilities of local care delivery resources
Founding Organizations and Roles
- Lumeris — Primary Care as a Service Platform. Through its AI-enabled Tom™ platform, Lumeris provides the backbone technology, workflows, and population-health visibility that make primary care function as a utility for rural America. Google Cloud’s AI models and infrastructure power AI-enabled Tom™ to bring together the best of AI, cloud computing, primary care expertise and proven solutions to help solve one of healthcare’s most intractable problems.
- Teladoc Health — High Quality Virtual Care Delivery. With the largest nationwide network of virtual care providers including licensed clinicians, therapists and health coaches, Teladoc Health delivers and orchestrates primary care, 24/7 urgent care, mental health, and chronic care services to expand access and improve outcomes in rural communities.
- Nuna —Daily Virtual Coach for Chronic Disease. Nuna’s platform includes an AI-native mobile app, a daily ‘coach’, to support patients to follow their physicians’ care plans. Nuna’s app notifies clinical care teams for support or intervention when necessary.
- Deloitte — Data Systems Interoperability & Program Operations. Deloitte provides systems interoperability and data integration across IT platforms, using analytics and population data, to drive and measure program outcomes. Deloitte provides program execution and supports alignment of state efforts with the CMS Rural Health Transformation Program guidelines.
- Unite Us — Human Services Coordination & Community Network Integration. Unite Us’ Self Sufficiency Score establishes a benchmark and measures the ongoing effectiveness of human service interventions, connecting rural residents to medical, behavioral, and community support services via an integrated care coordination and payment platform.