More than 76 million Americans live in a primary medical health professional shortage (HPSA) area. This encompasses. 7,718 designations, which would require 13,273 providers to remove the shortage designations. That is a bureaucratic way of saying that one-quarter of Americans live where there is no doctor, dentist or mental health professional. Even Americans who live in areas not designated as HPSAs still often lack ready access to a doctor. What do people do, who live in small towns or rural areas, when they need medical care? They drive to where there are doctors and hospitals. A family member sent me a text the other day saying he was in a regional town 200 miles from his home for a checkup regarding the surgery he got a year ago in that same town. Another time he mentioned getting eye surgery in a different town 85 miles away from where he lives. That’s not unusual. In fact, it’s normal for people living in the middle of nowhere who need medical care.
The town where I grew up always had a primary care physician. There are usually specialty physicians who spend a day at the clinic on a weekly, or biweekly basis. How did my little hometown in Western Kansas flyover country manage to keep a doctor when many small towns cannot? We paid for them to come. The county subsidizes medical providers, guaranteeing income and providing free clinic rent. Even then, many did not stay long before moving on to greener pastures.
My hometown subsidizes a primary care physician partly because it does not want wealthy farmers to move away and take their money with them to larger towns with medical facilities. The county managers understand that many retired people are afraid to live too far from a physician.
Kaiser Family Foundation Health News reported on the small town of Havana, Florida that needs a physician after its doctor retired.
For a rural community, this town of 1,750 people has been more fortunate than most. A family doctor has practiced here for the last 30 years.
But that ended in December when Mark Newberry retired. To attract a new doctor, Havana leaders took out want ads in local newspapers, posted notices on social media, and sweetened the pot with a rent-free medical office equipped with an X-ray, an ultrasound machine, and a bone density scanner — all owned by the town.
Local leaders hope the recruitment campaign will help attract candidates amid a nationwide shortage of doctors.
The town manager compared having a physician practicing in town to having a park. It’s an odd comparison but also highlights the fact that towns spend money on other amenities to make the town more desirable, so why not subsidize a primary care physician. The alternative is to drive to nearby towns to seek medical care. Many other Florida towns also need physicians but not enough are available.
Florida’s doctor shortage is expected to grow in the next decade, with one study projecting a statewide need of 18,000 physicians — including 6,000 primary care doctors — by 2035.
I have a suspicion Havana, Florida will have an easier time recruiting a physician than my hometown of Johnson, Kansas. Havana, Florida is only about 20 miles from Tallahassee and less than 50 miles from the ocean. Mark Newberry, the previous doctor who practiced in Havana, was offered a similar deal when he was recruited 30 years ago, and the town later began providing an additional $15,000 to boost his income.
Newberry, who served about 2,000 patients, declined to be interviewed. “I’m just retiring!” he said in an email, adding that “the town has chosen unconventional ways” of recruiting a doctor.
No, not really. If rural towns want to recruit physicians, they will have to pay for them one way or another. I recently read that hospitals trying to hire physicians in rural areas and small towns are having to really up their salary offers to convince doctors to move there. The town of Havana, Florida reports it has received a lot of interest from nurse practitioners willing to practice there but town managers are holding out for a physician who can practice independently.
Read more at: Doctor Wanted: Small Town Offers Big Perks To Attract a Physician