Opportunities that make physician life in rural areas better than ever
Georgia Scott, Senior Copywriter - PracticeLink
This article is contributed by 3RNET's Platinum Level Annual Conference Partner, PracticeLink. As a non-profit, we enjoy allowing organizations we work with to share educational information through our 3RNET blog. We hope you enjoy this article.
It is plainly—and not at all surprisingly—the right time to practice medicine in rural areas. Healthcare access in rural parts of the U.S. is an ongoing battle physician recruiters, local communities and the government are doing better at addressing. By tackling challenges one by one, on an individual, local, organizational and federal level, there are now an abundance of opportunities that make physician life in rural areas better than ever.
Federal investment
Respondents to a 2001 survey commissioned by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation found the majority of rural, urban, and suburban Americans hold strongly positive views about rural life. These include perceptions that rural areas are closely-knit communities with hard workers, friendly neighbors, a relaxed lifestyle and aesthetic surroundings. Respondents also pointed out the many economic and social challenges, including that rural areas are behind the times and suffer from a significant lack of internet. To address these issues, the federal government infused substantial investments by way of grants, programs and laws. Twenty years after the Kellogg study, those initiatives seem to have paid off. In the USDA’s recent report, Rural America at a Glance, the U.S. rural population has grown approximately a quarter percent from 2020 to 2022, while one of the stigmas of rural areas—poverty—has declined by 9.7 percent in 2021 compared with a decade earlier. Additionally, there was a $401 million federal commitment in 2022 to bring high-speed internet to rural areas across 11 states, as well as initiatives to develop or improve infrastructure and business opportunities.
Financial security
The median compensation between physicians in urban areas and those working in rural communities is minimal, while in some regions, rural physicians make more than their urban counterparts.
Life in rural areas, however, has a lower cost of living. According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), for instance, 2020 regional prices in Arkansas were 89.18% of the of the overall national price levels, while in DC, they were 111.46%. For housing, homes are nearly 30% cheaper in rural communities, and homeownership is more than 20% higher.
Lower prices allow forward-thinking physicians more flexibility to plan for their future. Building wealth security goes a long way toward overall peace of mind. Combined with the other burgeoning benefits of rural life, physicians can combine quality patient care with a truly vibrant lifestyle.
Hospital-sponsored activities
Rural hospitals and clinics have strengthened relationships with their local communities by reaching out to them in creative ways. For instance, Bonner General Health in Sandpoint, Idaho has two programs that bring together the community, patients and medical staff. It maintains a tranquil healing garden on the hospital campus, which is meant to serve as a place of spiritual solace, and it runs an annual Hospice Rose Event—now in its 26th year. North Country HealthCare in Flagstaff, Arizona offers sexual assault support, as well as a health and fitness program called Fitness at 45. The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium in Anchorage, Alaska uses social media and their website to actively disseminate useful information about everything from water quality to hotel and travel tips for patient families who may need to stay overnight.
Community activities
Communities themselves offer a bounty of fun activities that don’t try to compete with big city life. Marathons, half marathons and triathlons bring in dozens, possibly hundreds of participants, compared to the unwieldy thousands of big city marathons. To relax and enjoy local talent, there’s community theater, county fairs, festivals and outdoor concerts. For more rugged events, there are rodeos, bull riding competitions, horseback riding and weekend ranching.
Where rural townships and counties do make a point to compete with nonrural areas is childhood education. Statistically and perception-wise, academic achievements in rural schools lag behind their nonrural counterparts, particularly in the areas of math and science. Reports have also noted that children have less access to counseling, which can affect their mental health. To address these inequalities, as well as retain residents and attract newcomers, school districts are developing strategies that focus on each district’s strengths. Examples include increased federal funding, increasing access to services common to urban areas, bringing in better leadership, empowering students and developing site-specific, autonomous school models.
Individual and family activities
The outdoor and more relaxed lifestyle of rural communities allows healthcare professionals and their families to do a wide range of activities that focus on improving stamina and pursuing healthier habits, such as as farm-to-table eating.
Rural areas have abundant natural resources perfect for golf, hiking, camping, bird watching, nature photography and foraging. Most rural communities with wooded areas allow hunting. Nebraska, for instance, has several hunting seasons, including archery deer, dove, grouse, teal, turkey and other small game. Rural areas often have quick access to fun water activities such as canoeing, kayaking, fishing and in some areas, cliff diving, as well as invigorating winter pastimes including skiing and snowboarding, even if it’s just practicing down smaller, local hills.
Some of the best perks of living in rural communities are fewer fussy ordinances banning bonfires and fireworks, both generally illegal in urban areas.
Professional growth
Half of the rural physician workforce is over the age of 55 and expected to retire within the next decade. A study by the National Library of Medicine identified 120 program or incentives being used exclusively to attract and retain physicians in rural areas, including loan repayment, J-1 visa waivers and fellowship opportunities. There are additional incentives physicians and physician recruiters have said in interviews that they negotiated, such as a support staff, four-day work week or doing telehealth two days a month, which has the added benefit of allowing patients who can’t travel to the hospital or clinic to still be treated. There’s also the possibility of CME allowance, teaching and writing opportunities or research hours.