The United States has 61 million rural residents, including residents in tribal, frontier, and geographically isolated areas. These communities face unique challenges in healthcare that often have long-term effects on health outcomes. The problems with healthcare in rural areas range from shortages of medical professionals to limited access to specialty and emergency care.
Many healthcare experts believe that addressing these issues will require multiple solutions. Some of these solutions include leveraging telehealth, which allows patients to see doctors through videoconferencing and streaming media. This technology was vital during the COVID-19 pandemic and is expected to continue to be a key component of rural healthcare going forward. Other options to boost healthcare in rural areas include allowing nurse practitioners full practice authority and implementing programs that encourage health workers to work in rural communities.
The primary solution to the issue of lack of healthcare workers is finding ways to retain and attract them to rural communities. Increasing the pay of healthcare professionals and offering incentives such as loan repayment and visa waivers can help to improve recruitment efforts. Additionally, reducing travel times and making it easier to get to healthcare facilities can help make visits more accessible for rural patients. This can be accomplished by establishing more clinics and leveraging telehealth technologies. For example, some organizations are using mobile health units to bring healthcare to rural citizens rather than having them drive long distances to a brick-and-mortar facility. solutions to healthcare in rural areas