(Editorial - Graphic Illustration - MetroCreativeConnection)

“We have to get to work to improve health outcomes,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said in Parkersburg this week during the latest round of stops to spread his messages in every corner of the state.

This time, he was touting the state’s application for money through the federal Rural Health Transformation Program. On that day, he travelled to Moundsville and Fairmont as well for similar appearances.

If federal officials approve the request, the Mountain State could receive more than $100 million per year for five years to expand health care access, improve healthcare quality and remove health barriers that keep residents out of the workforce.

“If you are really successful improving health care outcomes, you are going to see additional people join the workforce, you are going to have a more productive workforce and that will lead to a stronger economy and a higher standard of living,” Morrisey said. “We can do that.”

But how? “We want people to be active and that we are rewarding healthy choices,” he said. The plan is also to expand telehealth, remote monitoring and mobile care access; support EMS community-paramedicine and treatment-in-place programs to reduce unnecessary emergency department visits.

“One of the first areas we are zeroing in on is how do we improve access and bring care closer to you and get the health care services people need,” he said.

Wonderful. But there’s also the shortage of human beings willing and able to be nurses, physicians assistants, pharmacists, lab techs and fill other healthcare-related positions.

We’ve got to recruit, we’ve got to make healthcare more AFFORDABLE and accessible, we’ve got to reward healthy choices and encourage better diet and exercise … perhaps while supporting healthier grocery options in more communities.

Work is, indeed, good, as Morrisey put it — but there is a great deal of it to be done if we are to improve health outcomes for the unhealthiest state in the country.

We know throwing money at a problem does not work here. Never has. Therefore, Morrisey, lawmakers and health officials must have a plan in place for what to do when the money runs out in five years. This is, after all, effectively one-time money even if it is being stretched out. And they must be on the same page about the most effective way to serve West Virginians with this money — if we get it.

They can’t wait for answers to the plethora of questions that accompany the possibilities associated with the Rural Health Transformation Program. The folks in Charleston should be working feverishly to improve West Virginians’ health outcomes now.