Preventive care in rural primary care practice

Delivering preventive care in a primary care practice is often more difficult for rural than for urban practices. First, rural compared with urban patients tend to be older, poorer, and less well insured, all characteristics associated with lower levels of preventive care. Second, there are many more patients per physician in rural than urban settings. Third, the distance from sources of preventive care is much greater for rural than for urban people. Fourth, rural practices tend to be smaller, with fewer resources to perform high-quality preventive care. Long-term programs to increase recruitment and retention of primary care physicians and improve insurance coverage for rural people may eventually improve preventive care utilization. A more immediate approach is to change the organization of medical practice, including developing satellite clinics, redefining the roles of nurses and nurse practitioners, and using organized systems within practices to reach and follow-up underserved groups. Initial impressions from the North Carolina Prescribe for Health project indicate that an organized approach to preventive care within physicians' offices may improve utilization of carefully designed packages of preventive care. More information is needed to understand the differences among rural, urban, and suburban areas in delivering preventive care to primary care patients.