Advocacy

Rural Health Care Workforce

Rural residents in many parts of the United States have faced chronic and sometimes severe shortages of primary care providers for decades. Maintaining an adequate supply of primary care providers has been, and remains, one of the key challenges in rural health care. Nearly 70% of rural, or partially rural, counties are Health Professional Shortage Areas, and close to one in ten counties have no physicians at all. With far fewer providers per capita, the maldistribution of health care professionals between rural and urban areas results in unequal access to care. We encourage you to utilize the following advocacy materials and external resources when you are advocating for improving the rural healthcare workforce!