Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Physicians

Medicare Physician Payment: Impacts of Changes on Rural Physicians
Presents an overview of the effects of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) of 2003 on physician payment rates in rural areas.
Author(s): Keith J. Mueller, A. Clinton MacKinney, Timothy D. McBride
Date: 09/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
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Medicare Physician Payments: Trends in Service Utilization, Spending, and Fees Prompt Consideration of Alternative Payment Approaches
Statement discussing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) system, which Medicare uses to determine annual changes to physician fees. Includes some rural-specific information.
Additional links: Full Report
Author(s): A. Bruce Steinwald
Date: 07/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Foreign Physicians: Preliminary Findings on the Use of J-1 Visa Waivers to Practice in Underserved Areas
Reports preliminary findings regarding the number of J-1 visa waivers requested by states and federal agencies and states' views on the 30-waiver limit and on their willingness to have unused waiver allotments redistributed.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 05/2006
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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How Adults' Access to Outpatient Physician Services Relates to the Local Supply of Primary Care Physicians in the Rural Southeast
Examined how access to outpatient medical care varies with local primary care physician densities across primary care service areas in the rural Southeast, for adults, the elderly, and the poor.
Author(s): Donald E. Pathman, Thomas C. Ricketts III, Thomas R. Konrad
Citation: Health Services Research, 41(1), 79-102
Date: 02/2006
Type: Document
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Family Physician Vacancies in Federally Funded Health Centers
Provides information on family physician vacancy rates by rural and urban location at Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs).
Date: 11/2005
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Is Large Really Beautiful? Physician Practice in Small versus Large Scale Communities
Examines the effect of community size on how physicians view their practices as reported by respondents to two waves (1996-97 and 1998-1999) of a national sample survey conducted as part of the Community Tracking Study.
Author(s): George E. Wright, Ira Moscovice
Date: 09/2005
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
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Pathways to Rural Practice: A Chartbook of Family Medicine Residency Training Locations and Characteristics
Discusses characteristics and geographic locations of family medicine residency programs' rural locations, types of rural family medicine training by location, and rural mission of family medicine residencies.
Author(s): L. Gary Hart, Denise M. Lishner, Eric H. Larson, et al.
Date: 08/2005
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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International Medical Graduate Physicians in the U.S.: Changes Since 1981
Describes changes over time in the supply and distribution of International Medical Graduates (IMGs), based on five-year interval data from 1981 through 2001. Addresses IMG country of education, distribution in the U.S., demographics, type of practice, specialty, and contribution to patient care in rural areas and persistent poverty counties.
Author(s): L. Gary Hart, Susan M. Skillman, Amy Hagopian, et al.
Date: 03/2005
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: UW Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Medicare Physician Fees: Geographic Adjustment Indices Are Valid in Design, but Data and Methods Need Refinement
Discusses Medicare's geographic practice cost indices (GPCI). Includes discussion of how these indices impact rural physicians, physician incomes, location, recruitment, and retention.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 03/2005
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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Medicare Fee-for-Service Beneficiary Access to Physician Services: Trends in Utilization of Services, 2000-2002
Reports on Medicare beneficiaries' access to physician services in 2000, 2001, and 2002, with comparison of rural versus urban access.
Additional links: Full Report
Date: 02/2005
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
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