An innovative, rational approach to rural health care

Parts of rural, southern Illinois, like many rural areas throughout the world, are medically underserved. An innovative, rational solution to the physician shortage in those parts of rural, southern Illinois, which may be applied to other medically underserved areas, rural or urban, is proposed in this manuscript. To attract physicians to or near medically underserved, rural areas in southern Illinois it is proposed that Primary Care and Referral Centers be set up in southern Illinois. This could be done by adding well trained general practitioners, family physicians, or general internists to the staff of each emergency center of the Total Emergency Medical Service System for (southern) Illinois that is located in or near an otherwise medically underserved, rural area of southern Illinois. These additional physicians would diagnose and treat within their capabilities all non-emergency cases coming to the primary care centers and refer non-emergency cases needing referrals. Referrals would be either for secondary or tertiary health care. The Primary Care and Referral Centers should be self-supporting from pre-paid patient fees. For almost ten years a health center like a Primary Care and Referral Center has been operating at SIU/Edwardsville.