- Federal Rural Healthcare Transformation Program (Public Law 119-21-7/4/2025) dovetails perfectly with our Syncoro Health mission. Our team can assist States with the development of this program from application process to a successful and sustainable year over year appropriation through fiscal year 2030.
- States have an annual opportunity for significant cost savings by eliminating avoidable Medicaid hospitalizations, and an increase in revenue generation through the implementation and strategic placement of outreach clinic networks.
- Rusty Holman, MD will be joining Syncoro Health as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Holman is the former Chief Medical Officer for LifePoint Health, a Nashville-based health system with 90 hospitals in 30 states representing rural and non-urban communities. He brings a proven track record in private-public partnerships, quality, safety and operational excellence at scale.
Client Background
- The geography of Michigan is 95% rural and contains 20% of the population. Rural migration has been increasing since 2020.
- Like many states, Michigan faces a rural healthcare crisis fueled by rising operational costs, poor patient access, workforce shortages and declining reimbursement.
The Challenge
- Chronic disease is a hardship on patients, families, and health providers especially in rural areas.
- Specialty services necessary for many chronic disease patients are poorly distributed in rural areas, forcing patients to forego preventive care.
- Avoidable, high-cost hospitalizations and emergency department visits significantly add to the financial burden on patients, health providers and state/federal insurance programs.
The Goal
- Improve healthcare access, satisfaction and outcomes for rural patients with chronic disease.
- Increase revenue and create attractive practices for healthcare providers in rural settings.
- Decrease costs by reducing avoidable hospitalizations and emergency visits.
- Accomplish the above without adding significant infrastructure or recurring costs.
Syncoro Health Approach
- Assessment of demographics, disease prevalence, physician referral data and analysis of clinical differentiators.
- Implementation of Outreach Clinic Network sites utilizing shared space; training staff in the new care delivery model; integration of digital connectivity and electronic health record.
- In-person engagement of community and specialty physicians to endorse and lead the Cooperative Care Product.
- Advanced practice provider integration enables service expansion.
- This care delivery innovation was validated by the New England Journal of Medicine Catalyst in 2024.
Outcomes
- 24 new tertiary service lines deployed across six rural Michigan locations.
- Creation of a replicable, scalable collaboration among 15 hospitals and health systems spanning numerous distinct organizations, ensuring parity across participating entities.
- 67% reduction of hospitalizations and ER visits within 2 years.
- Financial stabilization: “Ever since this clinic launched, our physician workforce has stabilized, which has helped our bottom line.” - Rural Hospital Leader.
- Increased revenue for tertiary healthcare organization: $18.6M year one post-implementation
Call to Action
- Syncoro Health orchestrates expansion of clinical services to reduce costs, enhance revenue and improve outcomes, benefitting states, healthcare organizations, and most importantly, patients.
- The Syncoro Cooperative Care Product specifically aligns state-sponsored efforts to optimize the Rural Health Transformation Program grants and address Medicaid funding cuts.
- We welcome the opportunity for our proven model to be part of your State's RHTP application, implementation and rural health strategy.