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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Health workforce supply and demand

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.
Author(s): Board on Health Care Services
Date: 2025
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Health and Medicine Division (HMD), National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
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Drive Time to Care and Retention in HIV Care: Rural–Urban Differences Among Medicaid Enrollees in the United States South
Presents a study on the role geography plays in HIV care retention and maintenance. Draws data from Medicaid enrollees in 13 southern states including the District of Columbia and compares patient drive times to care in rural and urban areas. Breaks down data by county social determinants of health, healthcare supply, and HIV prevalence, as well as patient characteristics.
Author(s): April D. Kimmel, Rose S. Bono, Zhongzhe Pan, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 41(1), e12877
Date: 2025
Type: Document
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Expanding the Opioid Use Disorder Medication Treatment Workforce in Rural Communities Through the RCORP Initiative
Examines the impact of the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) on the workforce supply of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-waivered clinicians in rural areas, who are able to prescribe buprenorphine. Analyzes 2017–2022 DEA lists of waivered clinicians to report on counties with a waivered clinician, clinician-to-population ratios, and treatment slot-to-population ratios. Discusses the impact of RCORP funding on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) recovery services in rural communities.
Author(s): C. Holly A. Andrilla, Sara C. Woolcock, Kathleen Meyers, Davis G. Patterson
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 41(1), e12867
Date: 2025
Type: Document
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An Enticing Offer: How Some Rural Communities Are Winning the Competition for New Clinicians
Discusses workforce shortages in rural communities, changing workforce demographics, and challenges to recruiting and retaining physicians in rural areas. Features strategies adopted by rural communities and providers to recruit and retain physicians, including leveraging relationships to promote retention and the promotion of rural fellowship and residency programs.
Author(s): Sarah Klein, Patricia Richardson Schoenbrun
Date: 12/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Commonwealth Fund
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Graduate Medical Education (GME) in Arizona Policy Brief
Describes the shortage of resident (GME) physicians in Arizona. Includes map of Primary Care Shortage Area (HPSA) at the county level.
Date: 12/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Arizona Center for Rural Health
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Trends in New York Registered Nurse Graduations, 2014-2023
Summarizes New York State's registered nurse (RN) education pipeline and identifies barriers and facilitators to the production of RNs at regional and state levels. Features statistics including percent of active New York RNs working in rural areas.
Author(s): Robert Martiniano, Sage Shirey
Date: 12/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Center for Health Workforce Studies
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Texas Value-Based Payment and Quality Improvement Advisory Committee Recommendations to the 89th Texas Legislature
Identifies trends and provides policy recommendations related to value based care and quality improvement in Texas. Discusses rural healthcare access and workforce throughout and highlights key reports focusing on rural health.
Date: 12/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Texas Health and Human Services
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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
Type: Document
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State of the Behavioral Health Workforce, 2024
Offers demographic and occupational data on the behavioral health workforce including current and projected shortages. Data sources include both 2022 and 2023. Offers comparisons of shortages between rural and urban counties. Discusses challenges driving workforce shortages.
Date: 11/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis
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State of the U.S. Health Care Workforce, 2024
Offers demographic data on a variety of health professions from data sources between 2019 and 2023. Examines distribution, education and licensing, and projected shortages for the physician, nursing, and oral health fields. Describes challenges contributing to health workforce shortages. Highlights nonmetropolitan workforce shortages and state by state comparison of physician distribution.
Date: 11/2024
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Health Resources and Services Administration, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis
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