National Health Center Week commemorates America’s 1,400 Community Health Centers across the country — a vital part of the clinical care foundation that provides affordable access to health care, particularly for rural residents affected by hospital closures. Rural populations continue to face significant health care disparities such as lack of access to specialty and obstetrical care, higher poverty rates, lower educational attainment, and overall worsening health status compared to urban populations. Access to care is one crucial component of what is needed to solve the challenges of improving the health status of rural communities.
The institute previously noted the complexities in improving health within rural communities, including misconceptions about what exactly the levers are for targeted improvements. While policy interventions to address rural health disparities for the past decade have relied primarily on locating physicians and health professionals in rural settings, the issue brief found that rural residents are more likely to have a regular source of care and have a similar number of visits to primary care providers as urban residents.
Read the Full Brief on Rural Health
The brief emphasized that improving health status and health outcomes for rural populations must require additional policy interventions that increase geographic access and reduce barriers to care, including a focus on new modalities of care delivery such as broadband coverage and telehealth services, as well as increasing support for more rural fellowship and graduate training opportunities for all medical professionals.
Increasing funding for and expansion of community health centers is one of many policy efforts necessary to improve the health of rural and underserved populations. However, while access to primary care is critical, it is unlikely to solve problems of obesity, substance use disorders, and other challenges requiring a broader social investment in communities.
The institute remains committed to providing relevant data and policy insights on issues related to rural health care in future publications.