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Rural Health
Resources by Topic: Physician assistants

Primary Care Professionals' Perspectives on Tailoring Buprenorphine Training for Rural Practice
Interviewed 23 rural Ohio primary care professionals to identify barriers to prescribing buprenorphine for opioid use disorder treatment. Discusses the need for training addressing rural-specific barriers, limited patient access to required social supports, workforce, and stigma. Offers recommendations based on findings.
Author(s): Cheyenne Fenstemaker, Elizabeth A. Abrams, Benjamin Obringer, et al.
Citation: Journal of Rural Health, 40(4), 671-680
Date: 2024
Type: Document
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Annual Report on the New Hampshire Health Care Workforce and Data Collection: Calendar Year 2023
Includes aggregate data and information on current and projected New Hampshire primary workforce needs and the participation rate on surveys completed by clinicians for the Health Professions Data Center. Features a state map showing rural and nonrural New Hampshire regional public health networks, and statistics on demographics, barriers to care, substance use and mental health, and maternal health. Includes license renewal data for various providers types, and workforce data on physicians, advanced practice registered nurses, and physician assistants, including percentage in rural regions.
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services, New Hampshire Rural Health & Primary Care
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Confronting Workforce Shortages and Health Worker Well-Being
Six videos addressing the impact of healthcare worker shortages and how those shortages affect individual well-being and the ability to provide care in rural communities. Includes a keynote presentation by the Chief Medical Officer of the Indian Health Service. Transcripts available under the descriptions of the videos.
Date: 12/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organization: National Academy of Medicine
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Prioritizing Primary Care: Twenty-first Annual Report to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Congress
Offers policy and program development recommendations to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Congress regarding primary care training and education. Reviews the historical development of accelerated pathway programs for clinicians, physician assistants, and dentists, and program outcomes. Explores challenges related to securing an adequate number of clinical training sites, as well as recommendations to address this shortage. Outlines recommendations to support the training of more primary care clinicians who practice in underserved communities.
Date: 12/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry
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Health is Primary: Charting a Path to Equity and Sustainability
Examines factors driving the downward trends in primary care, including fewer clinicians practicing primary care, fewer available appointments, lower spending on primary care, and fewer adults reporting that they have a usual source of primary care. Features a literature review, supply and demand analysis, and recommendations for potential solutions. Mentions rural throughout.
Additional links: Slide Presentation
Author(s): Alison Huffstetler, Ann Greiner, Anam Siddiqi, et al.
Date: 11/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Primary Care Collaborative, Robert Graham Center
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First-Ever Rural Physician and Advanced Practice Provider Compensation Survey
Recording of an October 11, 2023, webinar discussing results of a January 2023 survey of rural hospitals regarding physician and advanced-practice provider compensation. Presents results for primary care and specialty care providers by provider type, hospital system affiliation, and region. Highlights factors that influence compensation and nurse practitioner practice environments by state. Transcript available in the video description.
Additional links: Presentation Slides
Date: 10/2023
Type: Video/Multimedia
Sponsoring organizations: National Rural Health Association, Stroudwater Associates
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Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry (ACTPCMD) Meeting Minutes, August 17, 2023
Summarizes the Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry (ACTPCMD) meeting held August 17, 2023. Features updates from the Bureau of Health Workforce on programs to address healthcare workforce shortages and Title VII funding opportunities planned for 2024, including the Primary Care Training and Enhancement (PCTE) - Physician Assistant Rural Training in Mental and Behavioral Health and the Rural Community Program Directors programs.
Additional links: Presentations
Date: 08/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: Advisory Committee on Training in Primary Care Medicine and Dentistry
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Health Workforce in Nevada: A Chartbook - 2023 Edition
Highlights current state and federal data on the supply and geographic distribution of physicians, nurses, and other healthcare workers providing direct patient care services, and administrative and non-clinical healthcare workers in Nevada.
Author(s): John Packham, Tabor Griswold, Nicole Mwalili, Amanda Brown, Laima Etchegoyhen
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organization: University of Nevada, Reno School of Medicine Office of Statewide Initiatives
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Factors Associated With Health Care Professionals' Choice to Practice in Rural Minnesota
Analyzes the factors that impact a healthcare practitioner's choice to work in rural or urban Minnesota. Utilizes 2021-2022 data from 32,086 respondents to observe feedback from advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs), physicians, physician assistants (PAs), and registered nurses (RNs). Discusses issues such as where the practitioner grew up, scope of practice, loan forgiveness opportunities, internship experiences, financial or family considerations, and more.
Author(s): Teri Fritsma, Carrie Henning-Smith, Jacqueline L. Gauer, et al.
Citation: JAMA Network Open, 6(5)
Date: 05/2023
Type: Document
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The Health of US Primary Care: A Baseline Scorecard Tracking Support for High-Quality Primary Care
Examines the support for implementing high-quality primary care in the United States across measures in five categories: financing, workforce, access, training, and research. Presents data on primary care financing trends from 2010 to 2020, the number of primary care physicians per capita in medically-underserved areas (MUAs) and non-MUAs by state, trends in financing primary care research, and more. Figure 7 shows the percentage of physician residents trained in an MUA or rural county by state in 2020. Appendix B includes data on the number and percentage of physician residents trained in an MUA, rural county, or both between the 2012-2013 academic year and the 2020-2021 academic year.
Additional links: Appendix B, Full Report
Date: 02/2023
Type: Document
Sponsoring organizations: Milbank Memorial Fund, Robert Graham Center, The Physicians Foundation
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