How an Atrium Health initiative is tackling workforce gaps and expands care access in North Carolina.
As North Carolina’s health care system wrestles with widening access gaps and a shrinking workforce, Atrium Health is betting that the two challenges can be solved together. Through a recent initiative, the health system is reimagining how care is delivered – and who gets to deliver it – by bringing services, opportunity and career pathways directly into the communities that need them most.
The health system’s Meaningful Medicine program – launched with a landmark $10 million, five-year grant from Bank of America – is delivering measurable progress through innovative partnerships and community-centered programs.
Introduced in 2022, Meaningful Medicine was born out of a clear and urgent reality: tremendous health inequities persist across the Charlotte region, even as the city continues to experience rapid growth, said Pooja Palmer, MS, portfolio strategy and special projects manager, impact evaluation and grants management, National Center for Clinical and Community Impact.
“From the beginning, we recognized that growth presented both a challenge and an opportunity – a chance to rethink how care is delivered to communities that have historically faced barriers to access,” she said. “We recognize that health is shaped by the structural conditions in which people live, and that improving outcomes requires bringing care, resources, and opportunity directly into communities. In response, our clinical and operational teams came together to design an innovative, interconnected model for delivering a full spectrum of integrated, community-centered care through Meaningful Medicine.”
Meaningful Medicine brings together two highly collaborative pillars: Meaningful Access and Meaningful Connections – uniting innovation across health care delivery, social impact, and workforce development. The goal has always been to address health inequities at their root, not in silos, Palmer said. “This investment serves a dual purpose: expanding access to care for our most vulnerable communities while creating clear pathways into health care careers, helping disrupt cycles of intergenerational poverty.”
Defining meaningful access
Since its inception, the program has achieved notable success. It has brought school-based virtual care to 115 Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools, facilitating more than 13,000 visits and helping keep students and staff healthy and present in classrooms. Mental wellness services through school-based virtual therapy have supported hundreds of students with more than 11,000 visits to date. Nearly 300 high school students have engaged in workforce development and training opportunities that aim to guide them toward careers in nursing and other high-demand health fields.
“From the outset, we defined meaningful access as care that is timely, trusted, convenient and connected to a broader system of support,” Palmer said. “Our initial focus was on delivering services in high-need communities and Title I schools, where barriers to access were most pronounced.”
Meaningful Medicine’s holistic model operates through six core initiatives – including virtual primary care, suicide prevention training, and social health screening – in collaboration with partners such as Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Central Piedmont Community College, Mecklenburg County Public Health and local community organizations.
“During early implementation we learned that significant need existed more broadly across the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools footprint, prompting an evolution in our approach,” Palmer said. Meaningful access is no longer about geography alone, but about meeting people wherever the need exists, in alignment with Atrium Health’s For All mission. This philosophy has guided program expansion beyond our original footprint and informed the design of care models that are flexible, scalable and responsive to community-identified needs.
Atrium Health leadership highlights the importance of cross-sector collaboration in scaling impact. By weaving job training with accessible care, the program not only improves health outcomes but also builds economic mobility and nurtures the next generation of healthcare professionals in the region.
“Meaningful access means removing barriers that inhibit accessibility – whether that’s transportation, cost, time away from school or work, or lack of trust – while ensuring that care is high-quality, approachable, integrated and sustainable when and where it is accessed,” Palmer noted.
Metrics and measurements
Atrium Health is tracking dozens of operational, clinical and engagement metrics to continuously improve the program, “but our success is ultimately measured by something broader: our ability to deliver whole-person care,” Palmer said.
Meaningful Medicine is intentionally designed to go beyond episodic, acute care. In addition to addressing immediate health needs, stakeholders are focusing on connecting individuals to a medical home, screening for social drivers of health, providing mental health resources, and linking families to community health workers and local resources. At the same time, they are investing in the future by helping build the next generation of health care workers.
“Metrics such as attendance, utilization, return to class rates, and student engagement matter – but they are all in service of a larger objective: creating sustainable pathways to better health, stability, and opportunity,” Palmer said.
If there is a single lesson that stands out, Palmer said it would be “engagement is everything.” The success of Meaningful Medicine is directly tied to the unprecedented level of collaboration among public sector, education, and community partners. “In particular, our sustained partnership with Bank of America has gone far beyond the initial philanthropic investment, serving as a true collaboration that has shaped strategy, strengthened execution, and reinforced shared accountability to community impact,” she said.
Rather than duplicating efforts, Meaningful Medicine organizers focused on filling gaps, sharing resources, and leveraging each partner’s unique strengths. “That mutual trust allows us to move faster, design smarter solutions, and remain accountable to the communities we serve,” Palmer noted. “Our partners aren’t just stakeholders – they are co-creators. That mindset has been our secret sauce.”
Long-term goals
One of the initiative’s most important long-term goals is to create a proven, scalable blueprint that can be sustained through ongoing operational workflows and replicated in other regions. “From the beginning, we approached Meaningful Medicine not as a one-off program, but as a learning laboratory for what’s possible when health care, education and community partners are deeply aligned,” Palmer said. “Wherever possible, we are using the demonstrated success of this model to advocate for ongoing system investment.”
Organizers are actively developing expansion strategies with a particular focus on rural areas, where access challenges can be even more complex. Just as importantly, Palmer said, they are using lessons learned from Meaningful Medicine to reimagine and strengthen existing Atrium Health programs, redesigning them to be more integrated, more equitable and more impactful.
“Success for us means that the most impactful elements of this work continue through our broader operational strategies and we continue to influence how care is delivered well beyond the initial funding period.”
Building the future workforce
Workforce development has been a core pillar of Atrium Health’s Meaningful Medicine program since its launch, recognizing health care careers as a driver of both community health and economic mobility. Through partnerships with schools and community organizations, the program introduces students early to real-world health care settings, offering career exploration, internships and mentorship. These pathways extend beyond clinical roles to include non-clinical opportunities, highlighting the breadth of sustainable careers available in health care. By pairing access to care with access to opportunity, Meaningful Medicine strengthens individual well-being while helping build a resilient future health care workforce.