Employee Spotlight: Angie LaFlamme

It’s not often that someone can say they’ve had a hand in building something from the ground up, but that’s exactly the case for longtime staff member and rural health champion, Angie LaFlamme. As rural health has continued to rapidly evolve throughout recent decades, so has Angie’s 30 year-long career with The Center. 

From starting out as a receptionist taking handwritten phone messages on a team of ten; through role transitions, organization name changes, and geographic expansions, one thing has remained — her passion for supporting rural organizations and the people behind them.

In her current role as Lead Program Specialist in the Rural Healthcare Provider Transition Project (RHPTP), she works with small rural hospitals and certified rural health clinics across the country, helping them transition from fee-for-service payment models to value-based care. This is an all-encompassing approach to health care, aiming to improve overall health while controlling costs.

“Value-based care is changing everything. Physicians are now going to be paid based on outcomes rather than quantity of services,” she says.

She explains that this modern approach to services goes beyond physicians and includes providers and staff at every level of care. From hospital food service workers to patient registration specialists, it recognizes that quality health doesn’t start in the exam room. It starts the second a patient walks through the doors. 

“Our mission and our vision speak to me because the work that we do is important,” says LaFlamme. “I didn’t grow up living in a rural community, but I have many family members who currently do, including my parents. As they age and continue to need care, I’m very involved. I’ve learned so much about rural health throughout my career but having loved ones living in rural has made the cause even more important to me.” 

Her passion for making a difference shines through in her work. Whether it’s conducting RHPTP interviews, participating in the selection process, creating onboarding guides, developing toolkits for clinics, facilitating technical assistance (TA) calls, or on-site TA visits, she embodies what it means to work collaboratively and innovatively alongside health care facilities every step of the way. 

Angie also knows that impact isn’t defined by size; it’s defined by the people who make it happen. “These rural hospitals and clinics are small, but so mighty,” Angie shares. This rings especially true for the organizations that participate in RHPTP, as their need for support outweighs the resources available to them to implement necessary changes. Providers are having to navigate care in ways that stretch beyond their capacity to do so. Meanwhile, patients are often left to navigate the complexities that come with the social drivers of health and non-medical factors that affect health outcomes. From a lack of access to reliable transportation, to food shortages and financial hardships, there’s a growing list of barriers that often stand between the patient and the care they need. This is where Angie and her team come in: expanding services that meet community needs and, ultimately, keeping care closer to home. Through quality, financial and operational assessments, coaching, and education, rural health care leadership and staff are given the tools to increase accessibility as well as improve health outcomes.   

“One of the favorite parts of my job is evaluation because I get to see outcomes. I love to see organizations who really need support participate in RHPTP. By the end of our time together, it’s so rewarding to see how far they’ve come.” 

What truly stands out the most about Angie’s 30 years with The Center isn’t the time or the success stories she’s played a part in writing — It’s keeping people and their unique stories at the heart of her work. Because when rural health is supported, communities are stronger for it.