title: The future of rural services.
abstract: About 20 percent of the US population lives in rural areas, but only 11 percent of physicians practice in rural communities. The number of primary care physicians per populations of 100,000 in rural areas range from one-third to two-thirds of those found in urban areas. In addition, rural hospitals are facing significant operational and financial challenges.
authors.affiliation: Health Policy Alternatives, Washington, DC, USA. jf.hpa@sso.org
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferman
mesh_terms: D005544:Forecasting; D008484:Medicaid; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D006278:Medicare; D020406:Medicare Payment Advisory Commission; D012051:Reimbursement Mechanisms; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000191:economics / Q000639:trends*; D014481:United States; D000078329:Workforce