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Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
News by Topic: Health workforce supply and demand

Jun 23, 2026 - Offers an interview with a South Dakota State University assistant professor in the College of Nursing about rural healthcare challenges and the work the university is doing to address nursing workforce shortages in both short-term acute care and long-term care settings in rural communities.
Source: South Dakota State University News
Jun 22, 2026 - Discusses challenges with offering trauma-informed sexual assault care in rural Idaho. Describes how workforce shortages contribute to access barriers and how a telehealth hub-and-spoke model overcomes some of those barriers. Offers lessons learned following implementation of the model.
Source: Healthcare IT News
Jun 22, 2026 - Describes the Primary Care Medic (PC-Medic) initiative in Pennsylvania's Rural Health Transformation Program plan. PC-Medics would increase healthcare access in rural areas with workforce shortages. Discusses how medics would support existing primary care professionals as well as how to recruit veterans and rural residents to the position.
Source: Pennsylvania Capital-Star
Jun 16, 2026 - Discusses dental workforce shortages across Pennsylvania and highlights the impact on access when a provider retires. Describes initiatives at 2 Pennsylvania universities to train dental students in regional centers and clinics as a strategy to increase the rural dental workforce. Notes these initiatives are incorporated into the state's Rural Health Transformation Program plan.
Source: Spotlight PA
Jun 15, 2026 - Describes a new website highlighting the services offered by the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences related to rural healthcare, education, and social safety net programs. Discusses how those programs increase access to healthcare, improve maternal and infant health, support the healthcare workforce, and make use of community health workers.
Source: UAMS News
Jun 15, 2026 - Describes the work of a university in rural Virginia to address healthcare access through mobile clinics and increasing the size of the nursing workforce.
Source: WDBJ
Jun 11, 2026 - The University of Montana's new physician associate program will begin this fall. The program aims to address workforce shortages across the state, particularly for rural areas.
Source: University of Montana News
Jun 10, 2026 - Describes a collaborative program between 3 University of North Carolina institutions allowing cohorts of students from different healthcare disciplines to learn about and address rural health issues. Notes the program's impact on increasing the rural healthcare workforce.
Source: The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill News
Jun 3, 2026 - A new philanthropic donation to the University of Washington School of Medicine Medical Student Education Program will create new scholarships and student support programs to increase primary care physicians in rural and tribal Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, and Idaho.
Source: UW Medicine Newsroom
Jun 2, 2026 - A new program in Hawaii offers free medical school in exchange for practicing in a rural Hawaiian community for 5 years. Describes the physician shortages in Hawaii and profiles some of the students already participating in the program, which is funded through the state's Rural Health Transformation Program.
Source: Honolulu Civil Beat