Ballad Health released a three-year retrospective this week detailing its efforts to improve health care in the region since its creation in February 2018 through the end of 2020. âAgainst the backdrop of massive closures of rural hospitals throughout the nation, creating a crisis of access to healthcare in rural communities, Ballad Health was created to preserve and enhance access to needed healthcare in our rural region, reduce the growth in the cost of healthcare and focus on improving the trajectory of health and well-being throughout the Appalachian Highlands,â Ballad Health CEO Alan Levine said in a press release. Levine said Ballad Health has reduced the cost of health care by millions of dollars annually, improved access in rural communities and attracted more than 150 new providers to the region.