title: Workforce issues in rural areas: a focus on policy equity.
abstract: Rural communities in the United States are served by relatively fewer health care professionals than urban or suburban areas. I review the geographic distribution of 6 classes of health professionals and describe the multiple government and private policies and programs intended to affect their geographic distribution. These programs can be classified into 3 categories--coercive, normative, and utilitarian--that characterize the major policy levers used to influence practice location decisions. Health workforce policies must be normative to ensure equity for rural communities, but goals in this area can be achieved only through a balance of utilitarian and coercive mechanisms.
authors.affiliation: Department of Health Policy and Administration, School of Public Health, Sheps Center UNC CB# 7590, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-7590, USA. tom_ricketts@unc.edu
authors.forename: Thomas C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Ricketts
mesh_terms: D003815:Dentists / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006291:Health Policy; D006801:Humans; D008507:Medically Underserved Area; D008511:Medicine; D009726:Nurses / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D019035:Rural Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013038:Specialization; D014481:United States