A new national coalition of health systems and strategic partners has launched to address worsening shortages in access to medical specialists in rural areas and underserved urban communities across the United States.
The National Specialty Care Access Coalition — a collaboration of more than 20 major U.S. health systems — aims to advance multispecialty, technology-enabled specialty care models designed to scale nationally and move beyond isolated pilot programs, according to a Feb. 18 press release announcing the group’s formation.
The coalition is convened and chaired by Chethan Sathya, MD, vice president of strategic initiatives at Northwell Health in New Hyde Park, N.Y., and Raj Narula, MD, founder and CEO of Sevaro. The coalition’s founding health systems collectively deliver care across rural regions and high-need urban communities nationwide.
The group’s launch comes as policymakers and health systems face intensifying pressure to rethink how specialty care is delivered, particularly with the introduction of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Rural Health Transformation initiative and more than $50 billion in new federal and state investment, the press release said.
The coalition said it will focus initially on three priorities: standardizing multispecialty care pathways for rural hospitals and high-need urban health systems; producing a white paper with recommendations for CMS and state Medicaid agencies; and accelerating real-world implementation through shared learnings and pilots in high-impact specialties.
The press release said additional thought partners include former CMS leaders, the Children’s Hospital Association, state hospital associations and the Center for Telehealth and eHealth Law. Technology collaborators named in the release include T-Mobile, Sevaro Health and Samsung, though the coalition said participation does not imply endorsement of any single technology platform.
The National Specialty Care Access Coalition said it will begin formal work in early 2026 and plans to invite additional health systems to submit expressions of interest as it expands.
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