A New UnitedHealth Group Report says that about 5 million people who live in small towns in America will have insurance by 2019. That’s the good news. The bad news? The number of physicians providing care is dropping, according to a press release posted at marketwatch.com.
People in rural areas rate the quality of their health care lower in 7 out of every 10 health care markets. In fact, according to the press release, both physicians and consumers in rural areas are more likely to rate quality of care lower than those in urban and suburban markets.
The report showed that new methods of care delivery – including telemedicine and telehealth – where patients are treated remotely without hospital stays, can help rural health care systems stay afloat financially in the future.
The sad truth is that those who live in small towns get sick more often, and experience more chronic health conditions, such as diabetes and heart disease, than urban and suburban residents, precisely because there aren’t as many doctors. Also, the report notes, “from 2014 millions more of them will likely participate in Medicaid and government-subsidized insurance, according to the paper released today by the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization,” as written in the press release.
The paper, titled "Modernizing Rural Health Care: Coverage, Quality and Innovation," discusses how the implementation of health reform, particularly expanding health insurance to more people, will increase “the need for innovative care models and points to technology and a stronger role for rural primary care as promising solutions.”
"The next few years will be times of considerable stress on rural health care, but also times of great opportunity, since across the country there are already impressive examples of high-quality care, tailored to the distinctive needs of the local community," said Simon Stevens, UnitedHealth Group executive vice president and chairman of the UnitedHealth Center for Health Reform & Modernization, in the press release.
"The challenge for all involved in rural America now is to build on that track record of innovation and self-reliance, so as to ensure that all Americans -- wherever they live -- can live their lives to the healthiest and fullest extent possible,” he continued.
But some things are being done to address some of these challenges. The University of Kansas recently opened a new medical school expressly devoted to the practice of medicine in small communities, with the hope that these new doctors will return to some of these rural areas when they open their own offices, as reported at tmcnet.com, and originally appearing in a story by A. G. Sulzberger at nytimes.com.
Deborah DiSesa Hirsch is an award-winning health and technology writer who has worked for newspapers, magazines and IBM in her 20-year career. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Rich Steeves
