County commissioners & local leaders

Local governments and community leaders across North Carolina are increasingly confronting the real-world impacts of healthcare workforce shortages, provider access challenges, hospital strain, and broader healthcare sustainability concerns — particularly in rural and underserved communities.

These challenges affect not only patient access to care, but also:

• local economic development
• employer recruitment and retention
• workforce participation
• hospital sustainability
• population growth
• overall community quality of life

As conversations surrounding healthcare access and workforce sustainability continue evolving statewide, local leaders play an important role in helping elevate community perspectives and identify practical, locally informed solutions.

This resource section was developed to provide county commissioners, mayors, municipal leaders, local government officials, and community stakeholders with practical materials that can help support discussions surrounding:

• healthcare access
• workforce sustainability
• healthcare infrastructure
• rural community impact
• long-term local competitiveness

The downloadable resources on this page are intended to support constructive, community-focused conversations and may be adapted for local meetings, stakeholder discussions, policymaker engagement, and broader community dialogue.

Contact the coordination team for additional assistance