Rural Healthcare Strategies & Funding

The Association of American Medical Colleges projects the national physician shortage will grow as high as 94,700 physicians by 2025. The impact is most pronounced with rural healthcare, particularly in southern states, according to a recent report by the Pew Charitable Trusts.

In order to address the growing problem, states are getting creative:

• Some states are establishing medical school branches in underserved areas to attract doctors to these regions, such as Arkansas State University and its partner the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine and New Mexico State University with Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine
• Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri now allow medical school graduates to treat patients before completing their residencies
• Arizona, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, Vermont and Washington state laws give nurse practitioners and physician assistants the ability to perform additional treatments
• Numerous states provide stipends to medical students and residents for clinical rotations in rural areas

Funding is also key to increasing rural healthcare access.

BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina recently awarded the University of South Carolina Salkehatchie Rural Nursing Initiative $100,000 for a clinical simulation lab.The lab will train 70 nursing students who directly serve nearly 110,000 people living in the Colleton County region. The award is part of $4.8 million in grants to 13 South Carolina organizations addressing health needs.

“One of the ways we improve the overall health of South Carolinians is by investing in the programs for the people who need it the most,” said Harvey Galloway, executive director of the South Carolina Foundation.

In its state budget, New York doubled University at Buffalo S-Miles To Go Mobile Dental Program funding with an additional $371,000. According to the university website, the additional support will increase the program’s reach to Oswego, St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties. The program currently serves Alleghany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua and Livingston counties. The university’s School of Dental Medicine determined elevated dental issues in the children it served over the last two years at rates much higher than the state average for third grade children. Only a quarter of the children visited a dentist in the previous year, compared to 83 percent statewide, and many have decay on their permanent molars.