Characteristics of rural communities and the changing geographic distribution of physicians

This research paper presents the results of a comparison of the characteristics of rural counties which attracted and failed to attract young physicians during the past decade. The data utilized in this research were from the Area Resource File which contains data on physicians for 1975 and 1979 and which permitted the examination of flows of physicians in counties over this period. Characteristics of rural counties examined included demographic and economic characteristics, population density, physical characteristics, health status measures, and the availability of health resources. Results from this preliminary analysis indicate that counties with at least 25,000 population were more likely to have gained a young physician and that, of all counties which added young physicians, the majority gained only one or two. Characteristics which best distinguished counties gained or lost physicians included population and population growth rate, health resources, growth rate of per capita income, and the proportion of the population agriculture.