This website is being reviewed for updates. Some information is offline. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Skip to main content
Rural Health Information Hub

Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health workforce supply and demand

New Partner Recruitment to Rural Versus Urban Ob-Gyn Practices: A Survey of Practicing Ob-Gyns
Discusses the results of a survey of obstetrics and gynecology practices in rural and urban areas located in 5 Northwestern states to examine their recruitment efforts. Information and data about their background, practice setting, partner recruitment, and retention was collected and analyzed, with comparisons noted between rural, suburban, and urban providers.
Author(s): Michael F. Fialkow, Carrie M. Snead, Jay Schulkin
Citation: Health Services Research and Managerial Epidemiology, 2017(4)
Date: 2017
view details
Neglected for Too Long: Dental Care for People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities
Policy brief describing scarcity of dental care for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, due to a shortage of properly trained dental care providers and exceptionally long distances many patients must travel to receive adequate care.
Date: 2017
Sponsoring organization: National Council on Disability
view details
Utah's Dentist Workforce, 2017: A Study on the Supply and Distribution of Dentists in Utah
Analyzes the dental workforce in Utah to assess supply and demand in urban and rural areas. Includes statistics, such as licensed dentists practicing status and demographic characteristics of dentists and patients. Covers dental practice characteristics, such as specialty, practice setting, geographic distribution, practice hours, and accessibility.
Author(s): Jenna Christensen
Date: 2017
Sponsoring organization: Utah Health Workforce Information Center
view details
Creating a Medical Workforce That Looks Like America: Community Colleges Have a Major Role
Explores the idea that medically underserved communities such as rural areas will be well-served by medical graduates who attended community colleges at some point in their education, due to the socioeconomic, racial, ethnic, and geographic diversity of students at these institutions.
Author(s): Joshua Freeman
Citation: Family Medicine, 49(10), 757-758
Date: 2017
view details
2017 Minnesota Statewide Health Assessment
Reports on an assessment of health for the people of Minnesota. Includes rural specific information on race/ethnicity, access to oral care, income, transportation, public water sources, food access, and healthcare. Provides maps of population changes since 1990 and health provider shortage areas by county.
Date: 2017
Sponsoring organization: Minnesota Department of Health
view details
Montana Healthcare Workforce: Statewide Strategic Plan, 2017
Provides guidance and outlines a healthcare workforce plan to address the unique needs of the state of Montana. Presents strategies in four main areas: engaging Montanans in understanding and addressing the state's healthcare workforce needs; educating and training the state's healthcare workforce to serve in frontier, rural, and underserved communities; recruiting health professionals to health professional shortage areas; and retaining a skilled healthcare workforce. Appendix includes numerous maps that allow comparison of health professions and sector trends at the county level.
Date: 2017
Sponsoring organization: Montana Healthcare Workforce Advisory Committee
view details
Maternity Care Services Provided by Family Physicians in Rural Hospitals
Describes current supply of maternal care providers in 437 rural hospitals, including statistics on cesarean delivery rates and provision of services, hospital size, community size, and requirements for procedural privileges.
Author(s): Richard A. Young
Citation: Journal of the American Board of Family Medicine, 30(1), 71-77
Date: 2017
view details
Beyond the Farm: Rural Industry Workers in America
Provides data on employment by industry in completely rural counties. Includes maps showing county-level employment in different sectors, including a map focused on rural employment in educational services, healthcare, and social assistance.
Author(s): Lynda Laughlin
Date: 12/2016
Sponsoring organization: U.S. Census Bureau
view details
Kentucky's Primary Care Workforce Shortages 2016-2025 and Recommendations for Increasing the Production of Primary Care Physicians for Kentucky
Presents data and information about the Kentucky primary care workforce, describes trainee pipelines supplying new physicians, and recommends strategies and tactics for improving this workforce. Includes statistics on various types of primary care providers in rural Kentucky, and support for the idea that rural background and rural clinical rotations are factors in primary care career choices by medical school graduates.
Author(s): Kevin A. Pearce, Carol Hustedde, Linda M. Asher, et al.
Date: 11/2016
Sponsoring organization: University of Kentucky College of Medicine
view details
Evaluation of Policy Options for Increasing the Availability of Primary Care Services in Rural Washington State
Analyzes policy options that the Washington state legislature has considered to address a perceived shortage of primary care physicians in rural Washington. Provides background on the rural primary care workforce within the state and projects the impacts each policy option would have through 2025. Policy options considered include: opening a new medical school at Washington State University (WSU), increasing the number of residency positions in the state, increasing loan repayment incentives to encourage rural practice, increasing Medicaid payment rates for rural physicians, and encouraging the use of alternative primary care models.
Additional links: Summary and Key Findings
Author(s): Mark W. Friedberg, Grant R. Martsolf, Chapin White, et al.
Date: 11/2016
Sponsoring organization: RAND Corporation
view details