VCU Mobile Health and Wellness Program Wins 2026 Premier Cares Award and $100,000 to Expand Healthcare Access in Underserved Communities
The Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Mobile Health and Wellness Program (MHWP), a nurse-led initiative focused on delivering preventive healthcare and chronic disease management services to underserved communities across Virginia, has been named the recipient of the 2026 Premier Cares Award. The recognition includes a $100,000 cash prize from Premier, Inc., a technology-driven healthcare improvement company that works with hospitals, health systems and other healthcare organizations to improve care delivery.
The award recognizes the program’s efforts to make healthcare more accessible to individuals who face barriers to traditional medical services. Through its mobile and community-based approach, MHWP brings healthcare resources directly to the neighborhoods where people live and work, helping participants receive preventive services, manage chronic conditions and access additional support for their overall well-being.
For more than a decade, the program has worked to address healthcare access challenges across Virginia. Its services reach urban communities in Richmond and Petersburg, as well as seven additional rural communities, extending from Tappahannock to South Hill. By establishing connections with local communities and healthcare partners, the initiative aims to reduce barriers to care and improve health outcomes among populations that may otherwise struggle to obtain consistent medical support.
The $100,000 award will help MHWP expand and sustain its Food Is Medicine initiatives, mobile clinic operations and hospital-avoidance strategies. The funding is expected to support continued delivery of preventive and chronic care services, with a particular focus on connecting nutrition support and clinical care for people managing conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.
The recognition highlights the growing importance of community-based healthcare models that combine medical services, preventive care, nutrition assistance and care coordination to address the broader factors affecting health.
Premier Cares Award Recognizes Community Healthcare Innovation
The Premier Cares Award is sponsored by Premier and its alliance of hospitals, health systems, healthcare providers and other participating organizations. The award recognizes community agencies and healthcare organizations that are making a meaningful difference in the lives of medically underserved populations.
Its purpose is to support initiatives that develop creative solutions to healthcare challenges, improve health outcomes and demonstrate approaches that can potentially be adopted by other communities.
The VCU Mobile Health and Wellness Program was selected for its sustained commitment to bringing care directly to underserved populations and addressing the social and practical barriers that can prevent people from maintaining their health. Its model combines clinical services with individualized support, allowing the program to respond to participants’ medical needs while considering other factors that influence their ability to follow treatment plans and maintain healthy lifestyles.
Bruce Radcliff, president of Supply Chain Services at Premier, said improving health requires meeting people where they are and addressing the obstacles that prevent them from accessing the care and resources they need.
Radcliff highlighted MHWP’s use of trusted relationships, preventive services and innovative approaches to nutrition and chronic disease management. These efforts, he noted, can help individuals lead healthier lives while reducing avoidable hospital utilization.
“We are proud to recognize and support their work through the Premier Cares Award,” Radcliff said.
The award provides financial support as well as national recognition for programs that demonstrate the value of community-focused healthcare delivery. By highlighting successful initiatives, Premier also aims to help other healthcare organizations understand how similar approaches may be adapted to address local needs.
For VCU, the recognition represents an opportunity to build on more than a decade of community engagement and strengthen services for individuals who experience difficulties accessing consistent healthcare.
Bringing Preventive Care Directly to Communities
A central element of MHWP’s approach is delivering healthcare in familiar and accessible community settings rather than relying exclusively on traditional medical facilities.
For many underserved individuals, obtaining routine healthcare can involve challenges related to transportation, distance, scheduling, financial constraints or limited access to nearby providers. These difficulties can make it harder to attend regular appointments, receive preventive screenings and maintain consistent follow-up care.
Such barriers can have important consequences for people living with chronic conditions. Conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular disease often require ongoing monitoring, lifestyle adjustments and regular communication with healthcare professionals. Without consistent support, individuals may find it difficult to manage these conditions effectively.
MHWP seeks to address these challenges by bringing services closer to the people who need them. Its mobile and community-based model supports preventive care, chronic disease management, wellness coaching and care coordination.
The program’s longitudinal approach allows it to maintain an ongoing relationship with participants rather than providing only isolated healthcare encounters. This continuity can help care teams better understand individual circumstances, monitor progress and identify areas where additional assistance may be required.
Wellness coaching also provides an opportunity for participants to receive personalized guidance related to their health goals. Combined with clinical services, this support can help individuals better understand their conditions and make informed decisions about nutrition, lifestyle and ongoing care.
By serving communities across both urban and rural Virginia, the program addresses a broad range of access challenges. Its reach includes Richmond and Petersburg, along with rural communities extending from Tappahannock to South Hill.
This geographic coverage is important because healthcare access barriers can differ substantially between urban and rural settings. Community-based delivery allows MHWP to adapt its services to the needs of the populations it serves while maintaining its focus on prevention and long-term health management.
Prescription Produce Program Connects Nutrition With Clinical Care
One of MHWP’s major initiatives is its Prescription Produce Program, which integrates nutrition assistance directly into healthcare services.
The program recognizes that managing chronic diseases often involves more than medical appointments and prescribed treatments. Access to nutritious food can influence an individual’s ability to follow dietary recommendations and maintain healthier routines. For people experiencing food insecurity, these recommendations may be difficult to implement consistently.
MHWP’s approach combines regular wellness visits and personalized coaching with access to nutritious foods every two weeks. The initiative is designed to support participants managing chronic conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases.
By linking food support with clinical care, the program aims to address both medical needs and the circumstances that can affect a patient’s ability to manage their health.
The Food Is Medicine approach reflects a model in which nutrition is treated as an important component of preventive care and chronic disease management. Instead of addressing food insecurity separately from healthcare, MHWP incorporates nutrition support into the broader care experience.
Participants receive access to produce alongside wellness services and coaching. This combination can help connect clinical guidance with practical resources, supporting individuals as they work to improve their eating habits and manage ongoing health conditions.
For people with diabetes, for example, nutrition can be an important part of managing blood glucose levels. Individuals with hypertension or other cardiovascular conditions may also benefit from dietary changes recommended by their healthcare providers. However, putting those recommendations into practice can be difficult when access to healthy food is limited.
The Prescription Produce Program seeks to reduce that gap by helping participants access nutritious foods while remaining connected to healthcare services.
MHWP also addresses other social drivers of health, including access to vision and oral health services. These needs can affect overall well-being and may create additional barriers when individuals cannot easily obtain appropriate care.
By considering nutrition and other social needs alongside medical services, the program aims to provide a more comprehensive approach to supporting underserved communities.
Program Reports Improvements in Healthcare Utilization and Health Outcomes
MHWP reports measurable results from its community-based care model, including a 37% reduction in emergency department visits and hospitalizations among program participants.
Reducing avoidable emergency visits and hospital admissions is an important objective for community healthcare programs. When patients have access to preventive services, chronic disease monitoring and appropriate follow-up support, healthcare teams may be better positioned to identify emerging concerns and help individuals manage their conditions before they require more intensive treatment.
The program’s reported reduction in emergency department visits and hospitalizations indicates that its approach may be helping participants obtain more consistent support outside emergency settings.
In addition to changes in healthcare utilization, MHWP reports improvements in food and nutrition security among participants. The program has also observed increased fruit and vegetable consumption and clinically meaningful reductions in blood glucose among participants with diabetes.
These results reflect the program’s emphasis on combining clinical care with practical support that can help individuals manage their health in everyday life.
Improvements in nutrition security can be particularly important for participants who face difficulties obtaining healthy food. Increased fruit and vegetable consumption may indicate progress toward healthier eating patterns, while reductions in blood glucose among participants with diabetes provide a clinical measure associated with disease management.
The program’s findings also reinforce the importance of evaluating community healthcare initiatives through multiple measures. Healthcare utilization data can help assess whether participants are relying less on emergency services, while nutrition-related indicators and clinical measurements can provide additional insight into health management.
MHWP has served more than 3,000 individuals across urban and rural Virginia. Its work also includes providing community-based clinical experiences for thousands of interprofessional healthcare students.
Together, these activities demonstrate how the program combines direct patient services with educational opportunities for future healthcare professionals.
$100,000 Award Will Support Expansion and Sustainability
MHWP plans to use the $100,000 Premier Cares Award to expand and sustain its Food Is Medicine and hospital-avoidance strategies across Virginia.
The funding will support the expansion of the Prescription Produce Program, along with mobile clinic operations and the supplies required to deliver preventive and chronic care services in community settings.
Financial support can be important for community-based programs that must maintain clinical operations while reaching populations spread across multiple geographic areas. Mobile services require the resources needed to bring care to participants, while nutrition initiatives depend on maintaining access to appropriate food and coordinating services with individual care plans.
The award will help MHWP continue its existing work while supporting opportunities to reach more people with services designed around their needs.
The program’s emphasis on sustainability is also significant. Improving chronic disease management and addressing social barriers to health generally require ongoing engagement rather than one-time interventions. Maintaining relationships with participants and community partners can help programs provide consistent support over time.
By investing in mobile clinic operations, supplies and nutrition-related services, MHWP intends to strengthen the infrastructure that enables its teams to deliver care outside traditional clinical settings.
The funding also supports the broader goal of reducing avoidable hospital utilization. Preventive services, chronic disease management and care coordination can help participants access appropriate support earlier, potentially reducing the need for emergency care in situations that might otherwise be addressed through routine or community-based services.
Although the award is a defined financial contribution, its impact may extend beyond the immediate resources it provides by drawing attention to the value of integrated community healthcare models.
Partnerships Strengthen the Program’s Reach
Collaboration with healthcare organizations and community partners is an important part of MHWP’s service delivery model.
The program works with organizations across its service area, including VCU Health Richmond, VCU Health Tappahannock, VCU Health Community Memorial Hospital in South Hill and Capital Area Health Network.
These partnerships help connect the program’s community-based services with the wider healthcare system. Coordinated relationships between mobile healthcare teams, hospitals and local providers can help participants navigate available services and obtain appropriate support.
For individuals with chronic conditions, coordination can be particularly important. Patients may need routine monitoring, referrals, follow-up appointments and assistance addressing social needs that affect their ability to follow treatment recommendations. Collaboration among healthcare providers and community organizations can help support a more connected care experience.
Local partnerships can also help community-based initiatives understand the needs of the populations they serve. Organizations working directly within a community may have insight into barriers related to transportation, food access or other practical concerns that affect health.
By working with healthcare and community partners, MHWP can combine its nurse-led approach with a wider network of services and resources.
The program’s interprofessional model also includes healthcare students and educators. This structure supports service delivery while providing students with opportunities to learn about the healthcare needs of communities outside traditional clinical environments.
Training Future Healthcare Professionals Through Community-Based Care
In addition to delivering healthcare services, MHWP provides community-based clinical experiences for thousands of interprofessional healthcare students.
These experiences expose future healthcare professionals to the practical challenges that patients may face when trying to access and maintain care. Students can gain a broader understanding of how social circumstances, nutrition, community resources and care coordination affect health management.
Healthcare education often includes clinical training in hospitals and other established healthcare settings. Community-based experiences can complement that training by showing students how healthcare delivery operates in neighborhoods and rural communities, where access to services may be more limited.
The MHWP model also illustrates how different healthcare roles can work together to support patient needs. Nurse-led services, wellness coaching, clinical education and community partnerships contribute to a broader approach that extends beyond individual medical appointments.
By integrating education with service delivery, the program helps connect current community healthcare needs with the preparation of future professionals.
This educational component may also encourage students to consider how preventive care, chronic disease management and social drivers of health can be incorporated into their future practice.
Premier Cares Award Has Supported Community Initiatives Since 1991
Premier has presented the Cares Award annually since 1991. The award recognizes nonprofit organizations that develop creative approaches to improving health and can demonstrate outcomes and impact within a specific population.
Eligible organizations must have been operational for more than two years, provide solutions designed to improve health status, document their outcomes and demonstrate that their programs may be replicated in other communities.
A panel of national healthcare leaders selects the recipient each year. The process is intended to identify initiatives that provide meaningful community benefits and offer lessons that other organizations can apply to their own healthcare challenges.
The award also provides financial assistance to help recipients advance their programs and services.
For community-based healthcare initiatives, recognition and funding can support continued operations, help extend existing services and raise awareness of approaches that address gaps in healthcare access.
MHWP’s selection highlights the relevance of combining preventive healthcare, chronic disease management and social support to meet the needs of underserved populations. Its experience also provides an example of how healthcare organizations and community partners can work together to bring services closer to individuals who face barriers to traditional care.
Award Presented at Premier’s Breakthroughs 26 Conference
Representatives of the VCU Mobile Health and Wellness Program accepted the Premier Cares Award and its $100,000 cash prize on October 8, 2026, during Premier’s annual conference and exhibition, Breakthroughs 26.
The presentation took place on the main stage in front of national healthcare leaders at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbor, Maryland.
The event provided an opportunity to recognize the program’s work before an audience of healthcare leaders and professionals. It also placed the initiative within a wider discussion of healthcare improvement, community engagement and strategies for addressing unmet patient needs.
The award’s presentation reinforces Premier’s commitment to recognizing organizations that demonstrate creative approaches to improving health among underserved populations.
Advancing Access to Care Across Virginia
The 2026 Premier Cares Award represents a significant recognition of the VCU Mobile Health and Wellness Program’s efforts to make healthcare more accessible across Virginia. By bringing preventive and chronic care services directly into urban and rural communities, MHWP seeks to address barriers that can prevent individuals from receiving consistent medical support.
Its approach combines nurse-led clinical services, wellness coaching, care coordination, nutrition assistance and community partnerships. The Prescription Produce Program further integrates food access into chronic disease management, recognizing that health outcomes can be affected by circumstances beyond the clinical setting.
With more than 3,000 individuals served and reported improvements in healthcare utilization, nutrition security, fruit and vegetable consumption and blood glucose among participants with diabetes, the program has established a foundation for continued community-based work.
The $100,000 award will support the expansion and sustainability of its Food Is Medicine initiatives, mobile clinic operations and hospital-avoidance strategies. Through these investments, MHWP aims to continue reaching underserved populations with services that support prevention, chronic disease management and improved access to healthcare.
As the program moves forward, its focus remains on building trusted relationships, responding to community needs and helping individuals obtain the care and resources necessary to improve their health. The recognition from Premier highlights the importance of these efforts and the potential value of community-based healthcare models in addressing persistent gaps in access and support.
Source link: https://premierinc.com/
