Rural Healthcare Workforce – Resources

Rural Obstetrical Care Workforce: A State-Level Analysis
Provides fact sheets on the rural obstetrical care workforce for select states in 2025. Includes maps and tables providing county-level data and rural-urban comparisons of provider to population ratios for obstetricians, advanced practice midwives, and midwives.
Author(s): S.C. Woolcock, C.H.A. Andrilla, L.A. Garberson, J.M. Graves
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Rural Behavioral Health Workforce: A State-Level Analysis
Provides fact sheets on the rural behavioral health workforce for select states in 2025. Includes maps and tables providing county-level data and rural-urban comparisons of provider to population ratios for psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, social workers, and counselors.
Author(s): S.C. Woolcock, C.H.A. Andrilla, L.A. Garberson, J.M. Graves
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Rural Primary Care Workforce: A State-Level Analysis
Provides fact sheets on the rural primary care workforce for select states in 2025. Includes maps and tables providing county-level data and rural-urban comparisons of provider to population ratios for family physicians, general internists, general pediatricians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants.
Author(s): S.C. Woolcock, C.H.A. Andrilla, L.A. Garberson, J.M. Graves
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
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Building a Workforce to Develop and Sustain Interprofessional Primary Care Teams
Report discusses strategies for developing and sustaining an interprofessional primary care workforce. Features considerations for rural communities and healthcare systems. Makes recommendations for government agencies and key stakeholders for supporting an interprofessional, team-based primary care workforce.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Deborah J. Cohen, Kameron Matthews, Marc Meisnere, et al.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Rural Areas Face Steep Decline in Independent Physicians and Practices
Examines the decline in numbers of independent physicians and physician-owned medical practices in rural areas and a growing shift toward hospital and corporate employment and practice ownership. Features statistics with breakdowns by state in the years from 2019 through 2024.
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Physicians Advocacy Institute
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Addressing Workforce Challenges Across the Behavioral Health Continuum of Care: Proceedings of a Workshop
Summary of presentations and discussions from a July 2024 public workshop to address workforce needs and challenges related to behavioral healthcare. Includes discussions of telepsychiatry collaborative care to improve rural access and capacity, and recruiting and retaining Native American healthcare providers in behavioral health settings.
Additional links: Read Online
Author(s): Board on Health Care Services
Date: 2025
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Preventing Violence Against Rural Health Care Workers
Policy brief discussing violence against healthcare workers and unique factors that may influence underreporting of such violence in rural areas. Offers policy recommendations to prevent healthcare worker violence in rural healthcare settings and communities and reduce barriers to reporting.
Author(s): Carrie Howard, Aaron Kramer, Devon Noonan
Date: 12/2024
Sponsoring organization: National Rural Health Association
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Physician Engagement in Addressing Health-Related Social Needs and Burnout
Results of a 2022 study exploring physicians' engagement in addressing health-related social needs and its association with burnout. Supplementary material features statistics including geographic location with breakdowns by greater or less than 20% rural patient care.
Author(s): Masami Tabata-Kelly, Xiaochu Hu, Michael J. Dill, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 7(12), e2452152
Date: 12/2024
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Effects of Rural Hospital Closures on Nurse Staffing Levels and Health Care Utilization at Nearby Hospitals
Analyzes healthcare utilization and nurse staffing levels when nearby rural hospitals close. Utilizes 2014-2019 American Hospital Association Survey data to examine vocational nurse/licensed practical nurse (LPN), registered nurse (RN), and advanced practice nurse (APN) staffing levels as well as inpatient and outpatient surgical operations and emergency department (ED) visits within 4 years of a hospital closure.
Author(s): Jing Dong, Siying Liu, Asefeh Faraz Covelli, Guido Cataife
Citation: Health Economics, 33(12), 2687-2707
Date: 12/2024
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Clinician Distribution and Type in Rural and Urban Areas of the National Health Services Corps
A research letter that examines long-term trends of National Health Services Corp (NHSC) physician and non-physician clinician distribution in rural versus urban areas. Utilizes the 2000-2020 Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) NHSC Field Strength database to examine the percentage of NHSC primary care, mental health, and dental health clinicians practicing in rural and urban areas.
Author(s): Olesya Baker, Marcela Horvitz-Lennon, Hao Yu
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 7(11)
Date: 11/2024
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