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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Recruitment and retention of health professionals

Pennsylvania Mental Health Care Workforce Shortage: Challenges and Solutions: A Staff Study
Provides a discussion of mental healthcare workforce occupations and examines the factors that led to shortages in these fields. Describes how telemedicine can be used to extend the mental healthcare workforce in rural Pennsylvania and determines how state government entities can encourage more people to enter and remain in the mental healthcare workforce. Makes recommendations including increasing the number of psychiatric residencies in rural areas and designating more Rural Health Clinics. Includes a county-level map of Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas.
Author(s): Grant Rosul, Stephen J. Kramer, Wendy L. Baker
Date: 06/2020
Sponsoring organization: Joint State Government Commission, General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
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Confronting Rural America's Health Care Crisis
Offers policy recommendations to stabilize the rural healthcare infrastructure and ensuring local access to care. Discusses strategies to provide financial relief to rural providers, preserve obstetric services, expand telehealth services, and address workforce shortages. Includes brief references to policy actions taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Additional links: Rural Hospital Transformation Models, Summary, The Case for Expanding Telehealth Services, July 2020
Date: 04/2020
Sponsoring organization: Bipartisan Policy Center
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Implications of an Aging Primary Care Physician Workforce in Kansas
Discusses issues related to an aging population and primary care physician (PCP) workforce as well as strategies to reduce physician workforce shortages, increase the number of statewide training opportunities, and implement recruitment and retention strategies. Provides data on the age and geographic distribution of PCPs in Kansas.
Author(s): Hina B. Shah, Sydney McClendon, Madison Hoover
Date: 04/2020
Sponsoring organization: Kansas Health Institute
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Recruiting and Retaining Behavioral Health Workers in Rural America: A Toolkit for Action
Explores successful tactics and programs, and elements missing from many current efforts to recruit and retain behavioral health workers. Describes funding opportunities, pipeline programs, telehealth initiatives, innovative approaches to recruitment and retention, and legislative changes in 2019 that helped promote recruitment and retention.
Author(s): Nancy Baum, Jaque King
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Center for Health and Research Transformation, University of Michigan Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center
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The Behavioral Health Workforce in Rural America: Developing a National Recruitment Strategy
Describes successful strategies to recruit and retain behavioral health workers in rural areas, based on phone interviews with state-level experts in rural health and behavioral health. Explores financial incentives, education and training programs, telehealth, licensure or scope of practice changes, innovative state approaches, and policy considerations.
Author(s): Nancy Baum, Jaque King
Date: 02/2020
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health and Research Transformation
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Vermont Rural Health Task Force Workforce Subcommittee Report
Provides an overview of the state of the healthcare workforce in Vermont. Describes actions taken to date by providers, the government, and nonprofit organizations to combat workforce challenges in the state. Offers additional policy solutions to meet the healthcare workforce demand in Vermont.
Date: 01/2020
Sponsoring organizations: Rural Health Services Task Force, State of Vermont: Green Mountain Care Board
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Support for Rural Practice: Female Physicians and the Life-Career Interface
Reports on the results of a survey of 20 female physicians from the same rural focused family medicine residency, over a 3-month period, to identify emerging themes regarding their experience practicing in rural areas of northwestern United States.
Author(s): Kimberly Stutzman, Ruth Ray Karpen, Pragna Naidoo, et al.
Citation: Rural and Remote Health, 20(1), 5341
Date: 01/2020
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Burnout: Measurement Tool(s), Cause(s) and Impact(s)
Reports on what is known about burnout among rural healthcare providers, highlighting several research studies. Discusses the impact of burnout on turnover, productivity, healthcare quality, and safety.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 01/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Physician Burnout: Definition(s), Cause(s), Impact(s), Solution(s)
Provides an overview of the causes and impact of physician burnout. Highlights interventions and solutions targeted to rural physicians. Features a medical school wellness-advocate in North Dakota, a Michigan researcher examining work-life balance among women physicians in rural family medicine, and South Dakota's Avera LIGHT program addressing physician wellness in a rural region.
Author(s): Kay Miller Temple
Citation: Rural Monitor
Date: 01/2020
Sponsoring organization: Rural Health Information Hub
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Missouri Primary Care Needs Assessment (PCNA) 2020
Analyzes Missouri's unmet healthcare needs and lack of access to healthcare services, and evaluates resources and services necessary to overcome health disparities in Missouri. Features statistics on Health Professional Shortage Areas, various incentive programs, and 33 primary care health indicators, with breakdowns by urban and rural locations.
Author(s): Sara Davenport, Laura Hart, Aleesha Jones, et al.
Date: 2020
Sponsoring organization: Missouri Office of Rural Health and Primary Care
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