Virginia Health Care Foundation

For Immediate Release
October 16, 2026
Contact: Rachel Rees, VHCF CEO
Virginia Health Care Foundation
(804) 828-5804
rrees@vhcf.org

 

VHCF Invests $8.6 Million to Strengthen Rural Health Care Practices Across Virginia

Latest awards bring VHCF’s rural health technology investments to nearly $23 million in October

RICHMOND, Va., October 16, 2026 — Building on nearly $14.4 million in rural health technology investments announced earlier this month, the Virginia Health Care Foundation (VHCF) today announced 23 additional awards totaling $8.6 million to help rural health care practices and providers streamline daily tasks, ease administrative demands, and create more time for patient care.

Together, these two rounds represent nearly $23 million invested in October through Virginia’s Rural Health Transformation Program, strengthening technology and supporting the people and practices caring for rural Virginians.

The new awards are the first grants through Virginia’s Provider Productivity sub-initiative and will benefit more than 1.1 million people across all six of the Commonwealth’s rural regions, from Southwest Virginia to the Eastern Shore. The awards support a diverse range of organizations working to strengthen community health care across rural Virginia.

The funding will help rural practices and providers adopt time-saving digital tools to simplify documentation, improve scheduling and patient communication, and streamline everyday workflows. These investments complement the $14.39 million in Provider Interoperability awards announced October 2 to modernize electronic health records, strengthen networks, and connect patient information across care settings.

“Keeping care close to home means supporting the people who provide it,” said Secretary of Health and Human Resources Marvin B. Figueroa. “Under Governor Spanberger’s leadership, we are helping practices spend less time on paperwork and more time with patients. That is what these investments are for, and that is how we will measure whether they are working.”

“Rural practices and providers are deeply committed to the communities they serve, and it is an honor to partner with the Commonwealth to support their work,” said Rachel Rees, Chief Executive Officer of VHCF. “Our aim with these investments is to ease administrative demands on rural practices, create more time for patient care, and help reduce provider burnout.”

The organizations receiving grants under the Provider Productivity sub-initiative include:

Hospitals/Health Systems

• Ballad Health (Southwest): $1,000,000 to implement an EHR-native AI service suite across its Southwest Virginia hospitals.

• Bath County Community Hospital (Shenandoah Valley): $40,000 to implement an anesthesia information management system to replace the current handwritten anesthesia record.

• Buchanan General Hospital (Southwest):
  • $418,000 to implement an automated medication dispensing system.
  • $121,000 to implement a modernized operating system for the hospital’s pneumatic tube system that delivers labs and patient information.

• Carilion Medical Center (Roanoke Valley): $1,000,000 to implement AI-enabled clinical productivity solutions, including ambient documentation and clinical decision support.

• Sentara Health (Statewide): $1,000,000 to partner with rural practices to deploy appropriate pre-vetted digital productivity tools.

• UVA Health (Southwest): $62,000 to deploy an automated screening-to-treatment workflow for diabetic retinopathy at identified rural sites.

• Valley Health System (Shenandoah Valley): $1,000,000 to expand the use of AI-enabled ambient documentation and agentic workflow automation tools that integrate with the current EHR system.

• VCU Health, Community Memorial & Tappahannock Hospitals (Southside and Northern Neck): $1,000,000 to deploy ambient documentation and AI-generated draft notes, patient-specific point-of-care guidance, and inbox-triage and task-routing automation.

Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs)

• Central Virginia Health Services, Inc (Southside, Northern Piedmont, Eastern Shore, Northern Neck): $504,000 to expand AI-assisted diabetic retinal screening and implement remote Disability/FMLA form completion services.

• Eastern Shore Rural Health System, Inc. (Eastern Shore): $543,000 to purchase 4 automated check-in kiosks and implement AI-enabled productivity tools.

• Monroe County Health Center (Shenandoah Valley): $124,000 to implement automated patient-facing and front-office processes surrounding a patient visit and an automated program to support back-office processes at Craig County Health Center.

• Rockbridge Area Health Center (Shenandoah Valley): $151,000 to implement AI-powered productivity tools in RAHC’s existing EHR platform and automate fax-based administrative workflows.

• Southwest Virginia Community Health Systems, Inc. (Southwest): $93,000 to implement an AI-enabled patient access and workflow infrastructure as the first point of contact for patients through telephone and digital channels.

• Tri-Area Community Health (Roanoke/Alleghany):
  • $190,000 to build document-handling workflows to automate prior authorization and fax inbox processes.
  • $188,000 to implement EHR-integrated ambient documentation and workflow automation for patient messaging, calls, and scheduling.

Community Services Boards (CSBs)

• Horizon Behavioral Health (Southside): $125,000 to implement a patient observation management tool at the Crisis Receiving Center.

• Middle Peninsula Northern Neck CSB (Northern Neck): $56,000 to implement an AI-assisted clinical documentation platform integrated with their EHR platforms.

• Piedmont Regional CSB (Southside): $33,000 to integrate an automated appointment reminder system directly with their EHR platform and upgrade staff workstations to modern operating systems.

• Southside Behavioral Health (Southside): $115,000 to deploy virtual reality technology and programming for structured substance use disorder group activities.

Statewide Health Care Nonprofits and Universities

• Old Dominion University Research Foundation (Southside): $228,000 to implement an integrated productivity initiative that redesigns high-burden workflows and integrates AI-enabled tools to streamline documentation and data collection across three free clinic partner sites.

• Virginia Community Healthcare Association (Statewide): $393,000 to expand an electronic consultation platform to rural FQHCs, facilitating communication between primary care providers and specialists.

• Virginia Health Information (Statewide): $260,000 to modernize the Advanced Care Planning Registry to improve how advanced care planning documentation is created, submitted, retrieved, and managed by patients and health care providers.

Virginia’s Rural Health Transformation Program

The awards are funded through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program, administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services is the Commonwealth’s lead agency, and VHCF administers the Provider Productivity and Provider Interoperability sub-initiatives.

About the Virginia Health Care Foundation

VHCF is a nonprofit public-private partnership with a mission to increase access to primary health care for uninsured and medically underserved Virginians. The Foundation was initiated by the General Assembly and its Joint Commission on Health Care in 1992. Since its inception, it has funded 568 community-based initiatives throughout the Commonwealth and established multiple programs and partnerships. Combined, they have helped more than 950,000 uninsured and medically underserved Virginians obtain the health care they need.

For more information about VHCF, visit www.vhcf.org.

This subaward is supported by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as part of a financial assistance award totaling $189,544,888 with 100 percent funded by CMS/HHS. The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement by
CMS/HHS or the U.S. Government.