Federal Jobs Program Targets Rural Physician Recruitment

More than 1,300 critical access hospitals across the country are expected to benefit from an expanded loan repayment program aimed at boosting physician recruitment. The expanded eligibility for the National Health Service Corps is part of President Obama's recently announced jobs initiative for rural America.

“Including critical access hospitals in the National Health Service Corps program is a nice step forward in adding another tool to the toolbox that CAHs have to meet the needs of their communities and fulfill their mission as a vital cog in the rural health care safety net,” said a statement from the National Rural Health Association.

According to the White House, the addition of just one primary care physician in a rural community generates approximately $1.5 million in annual revenue.

Also included in the jobs program is an agreement between HHS and the United State Department of Agriculture that will link rural hospitals and clinicians to existing capital loan programs to help them buy health IT software and hardware and jump the typical rural hospital hurdle of limited access to capital and lower financial operating margins. 

Just a few days before making its rural jobs program announcement, the White House Rural Council released a new report, Jobs and Economic Security for Rural America, which outlines recent investments in areas such as healthcare access. They include:

• Providing distance learning and telemedicine services to more than 2,500 rural healthcare and educa­tional facilities.
• Placing 2,641 clinicians in rural communities through the National Health Service Corps
• Investing in more than 500 projects across the VA health care system in support of rural health care, including 404 community-based outpatient clinics and 48 outreach clinics in rural areas

The second half of the report outlines the current state of rural America, including its healthcare access and performance challenges. The report cites statistics like ones showing that rural coun­ties had on average 62 primary care doctors for every 100,000 residents in 2008, compared with 79.5 primary care doctors for the same number of residents in urban areas.

 Although provider shortages are not news to rural healthcare leaders, it's encouraging that the White House is acknowledging the problem, advocates say, and the creation of the White House Rural Council is a step in the right direction.

"This is something we have supported in the past as a means to better coordinate rural issues across sector within the federal government. However, for this new council to be successful, it will need to place health and healthcare front and center within its discussions,” Alan Morgan, the National Rural Health Association's CEO, said in an e-mail to HealthLeaders Media in June. 

The White House report also points to improvements to rural healthcare that will come with the Affordable Care Act, such as a 10% bonus for general surgeons in health professional shortage areas for the years 2011-2015.