Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health career pathways

UAMS Regional Campuses: 2024-25 Annual Report
Reports on the 2024-2025 activities of the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) Regional Campuses, including discussion of health professions training, pathway programs, recruiting, education, and more. Includes an overview of rural programming and research and provides county-level data on practice location of physician graduates.
Date: 2026
Sponsoring organization: University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Regional Campuses
view details
Report to the 2026 Legislature: Annual Report on Findings from the Hawai'i Physician Workforce Assessment Project
Reports on Hawaii physician workforce characteristics and shortages by county and specialty. Summarizes activities to support the physician workforce, including recruitment, rural training, and mentoring programming. Offers data on shortages by specialty and by county, as well as physician supply and demand data.
Date: 12/2025
Sponsoring organization: Hawaii and Pacific Basin Area Health Education Centers
view details
2025 Idaho Medical Education (UME) Plan
Outlines policy recommendations from the Idaho Undergraduate Medical Education Plan Working Group to address physician shortages across the state. Recommendations discuss existing and new partnerships, moving Idaho residents into and through the physician workforce pipeline, incentives for retention, and funding needs. Discusses rural throughout.
Date: 12/2025
Sponsoring organization: Idaho State Board of Education Undergraduate Medical Education Plan Working Group
view details
Tennessee's Physician Workforce Landscape: Supply, Demand, and Education Capacity
Assesses the current and future supply of physicians in Tennessee, by offering information on the physician workforce pathway-to-practice, practice trends, and projected needs through 2035 across the state. Features statistics in various categories with breakdowns by Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Virginia, and the United States as a whole. Mentions rural throughout.
Additional links: Workforce Snapshot
Author(s): Hannah Maxay, Courtney Medlock
Date: 11/2025
Sponsoring organization: Veritas Health Solutions
view details
Physician Recruitment and Retention in an Underserved Community: The Role of a Premedical Research Program
Discusses physician shortages in rural and medically underserved areas and discusses the impact of the Hawaii Pacific Health (HPH) Summer Student Research Program (SSRP) to provide clinical and research experiences to pre-medical students in Hawaii. Analyzes 393 SSRP alumni experiences from 1986-2023 according to medical school admission, residency, practice location, and more. Discusses the importance of community-level programs to improve recruitment and retention of the local healthcare workforce.
Author(s): Lily Johnson, Kirra Borrello, Justin Abe, et al.
Citation: BMC Medical Education, 25, 1441
Date: 10/2025
view details
Building a Sustainable Oral Health Workforce in Pennsylvania: Strategies for Reinvigorating Dental Careers and Strengthening the Pipeline
Features recommendations to guide efforts to build a strong and sustainable dental workforce pipeline for Pennsylvania, by increasing supply of providers and improving retention rates. Mentions rural throughout.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Pennsylvania Department of Health
view details
Supporting Older-Adult Behavioral Health: Building the First State Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health and Aging
Describes the establishment of the Oregon Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health and Aging which seeks to increase access to behavioral health services for older adults with mental illness and substance use disorders in Oregon through translational research, workforce development, and policy innovation. Highlights national initiatives related to behavioral health and aging. Offers guidance to other states interested in a similar model. Mentions rural throughout.
Author(s): Walter D. Dawson, Allyson Stodola, Paula Carder, et al.
Citation: Health Affairs Scholar, 3(9)
Date: 09/2025
view details
Description of a Collaborative Rural Dental Scholar Program
Discusses a series of initiatives to increase Alabama's rural dental workforce through a partnership between The University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Dentistry and The University of Alabama College of Community Health Sciences. Describes the interventions designed to get rural students interested and participating in oral health training. Details a summer program for high school students, a pathway program for post-grads, and scholarships for participating students.
Author(s): Carly Timmons McKenzie, Paul Drake Lavender
Citation: Journal of Dental Education, 89(9), 1356-1361
Date: 09/2025
view details
"You Can't Do Anything by Yourself": Recruiting and Retaining Mental Health Professionals in Rural America
Discusses the challenges in recruiting and retaining mental health professionals in rural areas, as well as strategies and approaches to address the need. Features a Michigan mental health center CEO and state behavioral health organizations in Nebraska and South Carolina. Also includes insights from 3RNET, which focuses nationally on rural health recruitment and retention.
Author(s): Allee Mead
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
view details
2024-2025 Alabama AHEC Annual Report
Reports on activities in 2024-2025, with sections on the Alabama AHEC Scholars Program, pathway programs, webinars, community health workers, community events, tax incentives, community-based training, and continuing education. Mentions rural throughout.
Date: 09/2025
Sponsoring organization: Alabama AHEC Network
view details