Urban-rural divide growing amid primary care workforce, study finds

Healthcare DIVE October 28, 2020
Hailey Mensik

Dive Brief:

• The number of primary care physicians increased significantly from 2009 to 2017, though growth was more pronounced in urban rather than rural areas, according to a JAMA Network Open study published Wednesday.
• In urban counties, the density of primary care physicians increased 20.8% from 2009 to 2017. For rural counties, it increased by 14.3%.
• Rural clinician shortages may be associated with the widening gap in population health outcomes between rural and urban residents that policy and intervention efforts could help fix, the study’s authors wrote.

Dive Insight:

While more physicians are practicing primary care today than roughly 10 years ago, they’re setting up shop in large urban areas — more so than the underserved, rural communities...

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