2025 at a Glance: A Policy Roadmap for Better Health in North Carolina (Part 1)

Building a healthy North Carolina means creating policies that address the unique challenges communities across our state face. At FHLI, we aim to shape a future where everyone has access to high-quality, affordable care. While policy is only a small part of our work, we believe that advocating for better laws gives our coalition of advocates the chance to positively impact lives across our state.

Every year, FHLI programs advocate for a range of state and federal policies to help more people access the health care they deserve.?Learn more about FHLI’s oral and behavioral health priorities, and stay tuned for part two in January, where we dive further into our rural health priorities.

Oral Health IS Health! Bringing the Mouth Back Into the Body

One of our programs, the North Carolina Oral Health Collaborative (NCOHC), works to find collaborative solutions to the persistent barriers to accessing dental care. While Medicaid expansion has opened new doors for nearly 600,000 North Carolinians to access dental care (many for the first time), provider reimbursement rates have not increased since 2008. This severely hinders the safety net’s ability to meet new demand.?

This year, NCOHC is focusing its policy efforts on building and retaining a robust dental workforce across every corner of North Carolina.??

1. Retain and strengthen the safety net by investing new funding in the North Carolina Medicaid dental program. Across North Carolina, wait times for dental care, especially safety-net dental care, can be months long. By investing in new funding and increasing reimbursement rates, safety-net clinics will be better able to balance their budgets and grow to meet their communities’ needs.
2. Educate new providers across North Carolina by creating a Rural Areas Forgivable Loan Pilot Program that includes dental staff. Rural North Carolina faces a steep shortage of oral health care providers. By offering incentives for providers to establish roots in rural communities, we can retain quality providers in underserved communities and better ensure everyone has access to oral health care.
3. Broaden the safety net’s ability to provide quality care through legislation allowing all dental staff to practice at the full scope of their licensure. North Carolina is one of the more restrictive states for dental hygienists and assistants. By relaxing strict regulations and allowing more dental professionals to perform tasks they are trained and licensed to do, we can increase dental office efficiency, lower patient costs, and improve access to care.

In November 2024, NCOHC published a new issue of the Portrait of Oral Health. Read the report for more data on oral health in North Carolina and efforts to increase access to and equity in care.?

Prioritizing Preventive Mental Health

North Carolina is facing a growing youth mental health epidemic, with more children and teens experiencing anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges. FHLI’s Center of Excellence for Integrated Care works to find innovative, collaborative solutions to the complex needs that surround mental health.

This year, the COE team is focused on a new policy to give children in North Carolina the option of a mental health screener at their annual well-visit. If enacted, it would allow primary care providers to offer a screener to identify potential mental health concerns with caregiver consent. This policy focuses on prevention, offering children resources and care to avoid mental health crises before they occur.

Join FHLI for Our Annual Legislative Breakfast

Each year, our NC Rural Health Association (NCRHA), NC Oral Health Collaborative (NCOHC), and Center of Excellence for Integrated Care (COE) programs set focused policy agendas to advance health access and equity for all North Carolinians. By prioritizing community-driven solutions and addressing local needs, we aim to make lasting impacts, especially in rural and underserved areas, regardless of who is in office.

Join us on Tuesday, February 18, 2025, at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences Nature Research Center for a morning of policy-focused discussion and a delicious hot breakfast!

Get Ready to Advocate & Stay Tuned for Part 2

Our upcoming January newsletter will dive into federal and state-level priorities from our North Carolina Rural Health Association team (NCRHA). NCRHA members collectively identify policy priorities to improve health and health care across our rural communities.?North Carolina has the second-largest rural population in the US, making these policy priorities among the most critical issues to champion as we work to build a healthier future for everyone in our state.

More ways to engage:?

• Read NCOHC’s Portrait of Oral Health.
• Sign up for email updates from NCOHC, COE, and other FHLI programs.
• Register for FHLI’s 2025 Legislative Breakfast and meet us in Raleigh on February 18!

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