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News Articles: Rural Health Care

Pediatrician Brittany Lord, left, talks with Mahogany Brown about her infant son Memphis Exum’s health before a standard round of vaccinations during a recent visit in Lord’s practice in the town of Eastman.

Tagged as: 

  • Children's Health

One conversation at a time, pediatricians hope to prevent the spread of infectious diseases

Rural health care providers are often the first, and sometimes only, line of information for parents with questions about their child's health care, including concerns over vaccines.

April 02, 2025
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
Dr. Rebecca Starr is an internist specializing in geriatric care. When she opened her own practice, she chose a concierge business model, she says, because she wanted to offer patients longer appointments, including time to talk about nutrition and other subjects, but be able to charge enough to make the business work.<br>

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Long wait for a rushed doctor's visit? Maybe you'll get more with a 'membership' fee

The growing number of concierge medical practices limit the number of patients and charge them membership fees. Will this worsen the ongoing shortage of primary care doctors for everyone else?

March 28, 2025
|
By:
  • Karen Brown
Keokuk County Hospital needs three physicians to staff its emergency room, but currently has just two. The hospital is seeking to hire a third full-time doctor to work in the ER and help treat patients at the 14-bed facility.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

COVID made shortages of doctors and nurses even worse. Rural hospitals still struggle

The U.S. already faced shortages in its health care workforce, then the pandemic spurred even more doctors and nurses to retire or leave hospital jobs. Filling those vacancies is a challenge.

March 14, 2025
|
By:
  • Natalie Krebs
Dr. Gulshan Harjee, co-founder of the Clarkston Community Health Center, sits in front of two paintings in a clinic examination room on Thursday. (Allen Siegler / Healthbeat)

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Georgia has a doctor shortage. Barriers to training keep immigrant physicians from filling the gap

Many immigrant doctors struggle to practice medicine in Georgia. Those who received medical degrees outside the United States often face difficulty competing with American-trained doctors for a limited number of residency spots — though it’s not because there’s no demand for more doctors in the state.

December 24, 2024
|
By:
  • Allen Siegler and
  • Rebecca Grapevine
Ninth-grader Katie Bolton of Screven County simulates bag-valve-mask ventilation on a medical mannequin at Mercer University School of Medicine's Savannah campus, as instructor Joe Slattery guides her through the technique.

Tagged as: 

  • Education

‘Georgia needs you’: Amid doctor shortage, Savannah med school workshop aims to inspire rural teens

Mercer University School of Medicine is hoping to boost recruitment of rural Georgians, whose hometowns often lack access to primary care providers.

April 25, 2024
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
Hospitals in rural America face a dire financial forecast. The government has an incentive plan to help them keep their emergency departments open, while shutting their inpatient services.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Federal fix for rural hospitals gets few takers so far

Just 18 facilities were converted into Rural Emergency Hospitals so far. Advocates and lawmakers say tweaks to the law are needed to widen the reach and keep health care in rural communities.

January 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Sarah Jane Tribble and
  • Tony Leys
Kaniya Pierre Louis (left) is a third-year medical student shadowing Dr. Zita Magloire for the day. Pierre Louis says she appreciates Magloire as a role model and an example of excellence.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Can family doctors deliver rural America from its maternal health crisis?

More than half of American counties don't have an obstetrician. Family physicians, working in teams with proper support, could be the answer to the crisis in rural obstetric care.

December 18, 2023
|
By:
  • Sarah Jane Tribble
DocGo, a New York-based medical company, has partnered with Dollar General to test whether patients will use urgent and primary care from a van parked in the retail giant's parking lots.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

A mobile clinic parked at a Dollar General? It says a lot about rural health care

Dollar General's primary care experiment could help solve rural America's care shortage. But it's getting a chilly reception in Tennessee.

October 05, 2023
|
By:
  • Sarah Jane Tribble
Dr. Terry Vester examines Charity Hodge at Vester's clinic in LaFayette, Alabama. Vester and her husband are the only primary care doctors in the community.

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

Just two doctors serve this small Alabama town. What's next when they want to retire?

Like much of rural America, LaFayette, Alabama, has no hospital or urgent care clinic. As the town's two primary care doctors approach retirement, some experiments are bubbling up to care for people.

September 19, 2023
|
By:
  • Arielle Zionts
Sharon Hudson (left) has advanced Alzheimer's. But she smiles and giggles when her daughter, Lana Obermeyer, visits at the Good Samaritan Society nursing home in Syracuse, Nebraska.

Tagged as: 

  • On Aging

Rural nursing home operators say new staff rules would cause more closures

The Biden administration says a recently proposed minimum staffing standard would help ensure quality care, but nursing home leaders predict it will accelerate a trend of closures in rural America.

September 14, 2023
|
By:
  • Tony Leys
Stethoscope

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

In rural Georgia, Senate study committee looks at how to address medical workforce concerns

The Georgi Senate Rural Medical Personnel Recruitment Study Committee convened for its first meeting on Wednesday at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Habersham in Demorest.

September 08, 2023
|
By:
  • Ambria Burton
Southwest Georgia Regional Medical Center

Tagged as: 

  • Health Care

COVID-19 deaths sped the closure of Randolph County’s only hospital. What happens now?

Low reimbursements, high numbers of uninsured patients and staffing shortages are impacting rural hospitals nationwide. But in Randolph County, Ga., access to critical lifesaving care has all but disappeared.

June 07, 2023
|
By:
  • Brad Bailey
Clinics in rural areas with fewer doctors, dentists and nurses are turning to mobile health care clinics to take care to where it's most needed. The Healthy Communities Coalition organizes a few mobile dental events each year in Lyon County, Nev.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Clinics on wheels bring doctors and dentists to health care deserts

Health care vans that provided COVID testing and vaccines in the pandemic are now providing a range of health services in hard-to-reach communities. New access to federal funds could expand the trend.

March 17, 2023
|
By:
  • Jazmin Orozco Rodriguez
A worried young woman sits on a bench in this stock image.

Tagged as: 

  • News

High number of rural Georgians call in to new 988 suicide prevention phone line

The mid-July launch of a new three-digit national suicide prevention phone line has driven an increase in call volume in Georgia, with a disproportionate number of callers dialing in from rural counties.

September 09, 2022
|
By:
  • Jill Nolin
Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams at a campaign event in Eatonton, GA, on Sept. 7, 2022. Abrams  continues to push on issues like health care and workforce development as she crisscrosses the state on her “One Georgia” tour.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

Abrams 'One Georgia' tour uses health care reform to connect with rural voters

The Stacey Abrams campaign makes its way through Southwest Georgia emphasizing Medicaid expansion, education and workforce development. 

September 09, 2022
|
By:
  • Sofi Gratas
  • Load More

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