Saving rural health care: strategies and solutions

Health care for rural populations has been threatened in recent years by a significant number of hospital closures and a scarcity of primary care providers. While some factors that influence hospital closures lie beyond the reach of individual facilities, others, such as low occupancy rates and poor management, can and should be addressed through hospital networking, strategic planning, and well-focused marketing. To recruit and retain physicians, communities should develop financial-incentive packages and such alternatives to the traditional fee-for-service medical practice as recruiting older providers, establishing a community-based health maintenance organization, or founding a community-owned and -operated medical clinic staffed by primary care providers. Improving rural health care requires community involvement and commitment, and good planning.