Evaluation of Policy Options for Increasing the Availability of Primary Care Services in Rural Washington State

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Analyzes policy options that the Washington state legislature has considered to address a perceived shortage of primary care physicians in rural Washington. Provides background on the rural primary care workforce within the state and projects the impacts each policy option would have through 2025. Policy options considered include: opening a new medical school at Washington State University (WSU), increasing the number of residency positions in the state, increasing loan repayment incentives to encourage rural practice, increasing Medicaid payment rates for rural physicians, and encouraging the use of alternative primary care models.

Mark W. Friedberg, Grant R. Martsolf, Chapin White, et al.

11/2016

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RAND Corporation

Health workforce supply and demand · Policy · Primary care · Service delivery models · Washington