Last week U.S. Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., released a press release on her partnership with U.S. Se.n Susan Collins, R-ME, on introducing legislation to improve access to health care and address the physician shortage in rural areas.

The Rural Residency Planning and Development Act of 2024 would authorize the Rural Residency Planning and Development Program to continue providing start-up funding to rural hospitals, medical schools, and other organizations to establish new rural residency programs.

Among current medical residency programs, the release said only 2 percent of residency training occurs in rural areas, and in Minnesota, 80 percent of counties qualify as mental health professional shortage areas.

The Rural Residency Planning and Development Act of 2024 will help address the health care provider shortages by supporting the training of more clinicians in rural areas.  

“When I meet with families, farmers, businesses and Tribal and community leaders in rural Minnesota, one of the first issues that comes up is health care,” Smith said. “There is a severe lack of access to health care in rural communities in Minnesota and across the country, and this bill is the first step to addressing that problem. Establishing more residency programs at rural hospitals and medical schools will incentivize doctors and nurses to work in these areas, help address physician shortages, and ensure Minnesotans living in small towns and rural places have access to the care they deserve.”

The release also states that in 2023, almost two-thirds of rural areas faced a shortage of primary care physicians, but only 2 percent of physician residency programs occurred in rural communities. The Rural Residency Planning and Development Program was established in 2019 and has supported the creation of 46 new accredited rural residency programs spanning family medicine, internal medicine, psychiatry, and general surgery, creating 575 new rural residency jobs in 36 states. Codifying this program into law within the Public Health Service Act would help to create even more residency programs in rural areas, therefore improving access to health care for rural communities across the country.

The health care challenges faced by U.S. citizens in rural America is well documented in a 2022 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report called “Health in Rural America.”

“Studies have found that rural Americans are more likely to die prematurely from the leading causes of death in the U.S.,” the report stated. “These include heart disease, cancer, lung disease, and stroke. They have higher rates of obesity and diabetes. And they’re at greater risk of fatal car crashes, suicide, and drug overdoses.”

In some cases, finding a doctor where you live is major obstacle.

“It’s more difficult to provide many types of health care services in rural communities simply because there’s a lower availability of health care professionals,” says Dr. Ty Borders, an expert on rural health at the University of Kentucky.

Here in southwest Minnesota, we are better off than a lot of other rural areas. For example, Avera announced several of it facilities in the region were awarded 2024 Leadership Award of Excellence. Compiled by The Chartis Center for Rural Health, the Performance Leadership Awards recognize top performances among rural hospitals in the three categories of quality, outcomes and/or patient perspective. Granite Falls Health Center, Pipestone County Medical Center and Avera Tyler Hospital.

Chartis Center also released the 2024 Top 100 Critical Access and Rural and Community Hospitals. Mayo Clinic Health System in Fairmont was recognized by Chartis in that list.

In its top 100 Critical Access Hospitals in 2024, Chartis recognized New Ulm Medical Center, Pipestone County Medical Center and Family Clinic Avera and United Hospital District in Blue Earth.

Unfortunately, there are still areas were access is challenging.

“In rural communities, folks don’t necessarily have access to state-of-the-art equipment –the CT scanners, MRIs — that you might need to diagnose certain things,” Judd says. “These are particularly important when we’re talking about brain health and stroke.”

And finding a doctor is getting harder, according to the “Health in Rural America” report.

And that is where the Rural Residency Planning and Development Act of 2024 could help.