Rural Health
Research Gateway

Physicians

Research Products & Journal Articles

Browse the full list of research publications on this topic completed by the Rural Health Research Centers.

Products – Freely accessible products include policy briefs, fact sheets, full reports, chartbooks, and interactive data websites.

Journal Articles – Articles in peer-reviewed journals may require a subscription or affiliation with a subscribing library. For these publications, Gateway lists the article citation, a brief summary, a link to additional information and access to the full-text of the article, if available.

2024

  • Trends in the Health Workforce Supply in the Rural U.S.
    Report
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2024
    This report examines the availability of current and historical workforce data for a variety of health care professionals and provides estimates of the trends in the supply and distribution in the rural vs. urban U.S. workforce.

2023

2022

2021

  • Geographic Access to Health Care for Rural Medicare Beneficiaries: A National Study
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 09/2021
    Using national data from 2014, this policy brief describes geographic variation in the mix of providers caring for rural versus urban Medicare beneficiaries, the quantity of visits received by beneficiaries across Census Divisions and types of rural areas, and the distance traveled for care for several serious conditions.
  • Use of Electronic Health Records to Manage Tobacco Screening and Treatment in Rural Primary Care
    Journal Article
    Maine Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 09/2021
    This study compares the performance of rural and urban primary care providers in adhering to evidence-based smoking-related standards of care and assesses the degree to which electronic health record use was related to improved adherence to these standards in the practice of rural versus urban providers.
  • Geographic Access to Health Care for Rural Beneficiaries in Five States: An Update
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 04/2021
    Using data from five states, this study describes the mix of providers caring for rural Medicare beneficiaries, the quantity of care received, and how far rural beneficiaries traveled for care for several selected conditions in 2014. Results are also compared with a similar study of the same states that used data from 1998.
  • The Distribution of the General Surgery Workforce in Rural and Urban America in 2019
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 03/2021
    Researchers examined the 2019 per capita supply of general surgeons in rural and urban areas of the U.S. and compared those results to a similar study of general surgeon supply conducted in 2001. Researchers also examined change in the regional distribution and age and gender characteristics of general surgeons since 2001.

2020

  • The Declining Scope of Practice of Family Physicians Is Limited to Urban Areas
    Journal Article
    Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
    Date: 11/2020
    The scope of practice for family medicine physicians has decreased in recent years. Using survey data, researchers compared family medicine physicians' scope of practice scores based on rural-urban status and other variables. Researchers found statistically significant decreases in scope of practice scores in urban settings.
  • Supply and Distribution of the Primary Care Workforce in Rural America: 2019
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Maintaining an adequate supply of primary care providers in the U.S. is one of the key challenges in rural healthcare. This study examines the 2019 supply and geographic distribution of primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants across rural areas of the U.S.
  • Supply and Distribution of the Primary Care Workforce in Rural America: A State-Level Analysis
    Report
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Maintaining an adequate supply of primary care providers in the U.S. is one of the key challenges in rural health care. This study examines the 2019 supply and geographic distribution of primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants across rural areas of the U.S., providing state-level data briefs.
  • The Supply and Rural-Urban Distribution of the Obstetrical Care Workforce in the U.S.
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Monitoring the supply of the obstetrical (OB) care workforce is important for identifying areas that may lack OB care access. This brief describes the supply and geographic distribution of obstetricians, advanced practice midwives, midwives (not advanced practice), and family physicians in rural versus urban counties.
  • The Supply and Rural-Urban Distribution of the Obstetrical Care Workforce in the U.S. - A State-Level Analysis
    Report
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2020
    Monitoring the supply of the obstetrical (OB) care workforce is important for identifying areas that may lack OB care access. This set of data briefs describes the supply and geographic distribution of obstetricians, advanced practice midwives, midwives (not advanced practice), and family physicians in rural versus urban counties for every state.
  • Rural and Urban Differences in Primary Care Pain Treatment by Clinician Type
    Policy Brief
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 04/2020
    In this brief, we compare 2017 opioid prescribing rates among physicians and nurse practitioners within primary care practices and how these differ for rural versus urban areas.
  • Early-Career and Graduating Physicians More Likely to Prescribe Buprenorphine
    Journal Article
    Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
    Date: 01/2020
    Only a small percentage of people who need treatment for opioid use disorder receive it, including buprenorphine. This paper shows differences in rates of prescribing buprenorphine and intentions to prescribe buprenorphine between early- and mid-to-late career family physicians, based on a survey of physicians taking a certification examination.
  • Practice Predictors of Buprenorphine Prescribing by Family Physicians
    Journal Article
    Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
    Date: 01/2020
    Physicians may prescribe buprenorphine if they obtain a waiver, but relatively few family physicians do so. This paper examines the association between practice characteristics and the likelihood that a family physician will prescribe buprenorphine, based on a survey of physicians seeking board certification in family medicine.

2019

  • Preparing Physicians for Rural Practice: Availability of Rural Training in Rural-Centric Residency Programs
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2019
    This study surveyed physician residency programs in anesthesiology, emergency medicine, general surgery, internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, pediatrics, and psychiatry to describe training locations and rural-specific content of rural-centric residency programs (those requiring at least eight weeks of rurally located training).
  • Declining Endoscopic Care by Family Physicians in Both Rural and Urban Areas
    Journal Article
    Rural and Underserved Health Research Center
    Date: 07/2019
    This paper explores the decline in the percentage of family physicians providing endoscopic services overall and in urban and rural areas. This has implications on the availability of colonoscopies, endoscopies, and flexible sigmoidoscopies in areas that lack specialists who perform such services.
  • Primary Care Clinician Participation in the CMS Quality Payment
    Policy Brief
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 04/2019
    Approximately 10% of primary care clinicians participate in Advanced Alternative Payment Models (A-APMs) and less than 30% of primary care clinicians participate in the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System. Metropolitan primary care clinicians are more likely to participate in A-APMs than nonmetropolitan primary care clinicians.

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

  • Rural Primary Care Physician Payment 2006-2009: What a Difference Three Years Doesn't Make
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 11/2009
    The analysis in this brief shows the impact of Medicare's Evaluation and Management (E&M) service valuation adjustment (implemented January 1, 2007) on two prototypical primary care practices—one providing only E&M services and the other providing a mix of procedures and E&M services.
  • The Aging of the Primary Care Physician Workforce: Are Rural Locations Vulnerable?
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2009
    Large numbers of primary care physicians are nearing retirement as fewer new U.S. medical graduates are choosing primary care careers. This policy brief describes the rural areas of the U.S. where impending retirements threaten access to primary care and offers potential solutions to the problem.
  • The Availability of Family Medicine Residency Training in Rural Locations of the United States
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2009
    Family physicians constitute the largest proportion of the rural primary care physician workforce, yet declining student interest in rural family medicine may worsen rural primary care shortages.
  • The Future of Family Medicine and Implications for Rural Primary Care Physicians
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2009
    The shortage of providers in rural areas is being worsened by the decline in student interest in family medicine. This study examines the rural physician shortage based on an analysis of a cohort of recent medical school graduates, the effect of trends in specialty selection on provider supply, and major trends impacting healthcare delivery.
  • Satisfaction With Practice and Decision to Relocate: An Examination of Rural Physicians
    NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
    Date: 05/2009
    The goal of this project was to improve our understanding of the dynamics of physician practice location decision making.
  • The Crisis in Rural Primary Care
    Policy Brief
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 04/2009
    The number of students choosing primary care careers has declined precipitously. Low compensation, rising malpractice premiums, professional isolation, limited time off, and scarcity of jobs for spouses discourage the recruitment/retention of rural primary care providers.

2008

2007

2006

  • Wyoming Physicians Are Significant Providers of Safety Net Care
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 11/2006
    Describes the contributions of family and general practice physicians from Wyoming to the health care safety net.
  • Medicare Physician Payment: Impacts of Changes on Rural Physicians
    Policy Brief
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 09/2006
    This policy brief provides an overview of the effects of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 on physician payment rates in rural areas. The brief discusses the effects of the Medicare incentive payment for providing services in shortage areas and of the bonus for practicing in a physician scarcity area.
  • Professional Liability Issues and Practice Patterns of Obstetrical Providers in Washington State
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2006
    Objective: To describe recent changes in obstetric practice patterns and liability insurance premium costs and their consequences to Washington State obstetric providers (obstetrician-gynecologists, family physicians, certified nurse midwives, licensed midwives).
    Methods: All obstetrician-gynecologists, rural family physicians, certified nurse midwives, licensed midwives, and a simple random sample of urban family physicians were surveyed about demographic and practice characteristics, liability insurance characteristics, practice changes and limitations due to liability insurance issues, obstetric practices, and obstetric practice environment changes.
    Results: Fewer family physicians provide obstetric services than obstetrician-gynecologists, certified nurse midwives, and licensed midwives. Mean liability insurance premiums for obstetric providers increased by 61% for obstetrician-gynecologists, 75% for family physicians, 84% for certified nurse midwives, and 34% for licensed midwives from 2002 to 2004. Providers' most common monetary responses to liability insurance issues were to reduce compensation and to raise cash through loans and liquidating assets. In the 2 years of markedly increased premiums, obstetrician-gynecologists reported increasing their cesarean rates, their obstetric consultation rates, and the number of deliveries. They reported decreasing high-risk obstetric procedures during that same period.
    Conclusion: Liability insurance premiums rose dramatically from 2002 to 2004 for Washington's obstetric providers, leading many to make difficult financial decisions. Many obstetric providers reported a variety of practice changes during that interval. Although this study's results do not document an impending exodus of providers from obstetric practice, rural areas are most vulnerable because family physicians provide the majority of rural obstetric care and are less likely to practice obstetrics.
  • Shortages of Medical Personnel At Community Health Centers: Implications for Planned Expansion
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2006
    Examines the status of workforce shortages that may limit Community Health Center (CHC) expansion by surveying all 846 federally-funded US CHCs that directly provide clinical services and are within the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
  • Will Rural Family Medicine Residency Training Survive?
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2006
    This report shares the results of a study examining the recent performance of rural residencies in the National Resident Matching Program as an indicator of their viability.

2005

2004

  • Rural Physicians' Acceptance of New Medicare Patients
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 08/2004
    Findings are presented regarding rural physicians' acceptance of new Medicare patients from an analyses of national survey data of urban and rural respondents, published studies, and results of a survey of state organizations representing physicians.
  • Characterizing the General Surgery Workforce in Rural America
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2004
    General surgeons form a crucial component of the medical workforce in rural areas of the United States. Analysis of the data suggests that the general surgical workforce has not kept pace with the rising population, and that the number of general surgeons in most rural areas of the United States will decline further.
  • An Analysis of Medicare's Incentive Payment Program for Physicians in Health Professional Shortage Areas
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 03/2004
    The Medicare Incentive Payment program provides a 10 percent bonus payment to physicians who treat patients in Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs). Results show that physicians eligible for the bonus payments often did not claim them, and physicians who likely did not work in approved HPSA sites, claimed the bonus payments and received them.
  • American Indians and Alaska Natives: How Do They Find Their Path to Medical School?
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 01/2004
    This paper describes the findings of a study to understand the paths of American Indian and Alaska Native students who successfully entered medical school.
  • The Migration of Physicians From Sub-Saharan Africa to the United States of America: Measures of the African Brain Drain
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2004
    The objective of this paper is to describe the numbers, characteristics, and trends in the migration to the United States of physicians trained in sub-Saharan Africa.
    Methods: We used the American Medical Association 2002 Masterfile to identify and describe physicians who received their medical training in sub-Saharan Africa and are currently practicing in the USA.
    Results: More than 23% of America's 771 491 physicians received their medical training outside the USA, the majority (64%) in low-income or lower middle-income countries. A total of 5334 physicians from sub-Saharan Africa are in that group, a number that represents more than 6% of the physicians practicing in sub-Saharan Africa now. Nearly 86% of these Africans practicing in the USA originate from only three countries: Nigeria, South Africa and Ghana. Furthermore, 79% were trained at only 10 medical schools.
    Conclusions: Physician migration from poor countries to rich ones contributes to worldwide health workforce imbalances that may be detrimental to the health systems of source countries. The migration of over 5000 doctors from sub-Saharan Africa to the USA has had a significantly negative effect on the doctor-to-population ratio of Africa. The finding that the bulk of migration occurs from only a few countries and medical schools suggests policy interventions in only a few locations could be effective in stemming the brain drain.
  • The Productivity of Washington State's Obstetrician-Gynecologist Workforce: Does Gender Make a Difference?
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2004
    Objective: To compare the practice productivity of female and male obstetrician-gynecologists in Washington State.
    Methods: The primary data collection tool was a practice survey that accompanied each licensed practitioner's license renewal in 1998-1999. Washington State birth certificate data were linked with the licensure data to obtain objective information regarding obstetric births.
    Results: Of the 541 obstetrician-gynecologists identified, two thirds were men and one third were women. Women were significantly younger than men (mean age 43.3 years versus 51.7 years). Ten practice variables were evaluated: total weeks worked per year, total professional hours per week, direct patient care hours per week, nondirect patient care hours per week, outpatient visits per week, inpatient visits per week, percent practicing obstetrics, number of obstetrical deliveries per year, percentage working less than 32 hours per week, and percentage working 60 or more hours per week. Of these, only 2 variables showed significant differences: inpatient visits per week (women 10.1 per week, men 12.8 per week, P <= .01) and working 60 or more hours per week (women 22.1% versus men 31.5%, P <= .05). After controlling for age, analysis of covariance and multiple logistic regression confirmed these findings and in addition showed that women worked 4.1 fewer hours per week than men (P < .01). When examining the ratio of female-to-male practice productivity in 10-year age increments from the 30-39 through the 50-59 age groups, a pattern emerged suggesting lower productivity in many variables in the women in the 40-49 age group.
    Conclusion: Only small differences in practice productivity between men and women were demonstrated in a survey of nearly all obstetrician-gynecologists in Washington State. Changing demographics and behaviors of the obstetrician-gynecologist workforce will require ongoing longitudinal studies to confirm these findings and determine whether they are generalizable to the rest of the United States.

2003

  • Medicare Physician Payment: Practice Expense
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 10/2003
    This rural policy brief examines the physician practice expense component of Medicare payment, which proportionately results in greater geographic physician payment variation than does the physician work payment. The practice expense adjustment warrants careful validation to demonstrate that the index measures actual geographic cost differences.
  • Who Is Caring for the Underserved? A Comparison of Primary Care Physicians and Nonphysician Clinicians in California and Washington
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 07/2003
    This article compares the geographic distribution and patient populations of physician and nonphysician primary care clinicians. It includes the proportion of clinicians within each discipline practicing in rural areas, health professional shortage areas, and areas with vulnerable populations.
  • Attitudes of Family Physicians in Washington State Toward Physician-Assisted Suicide
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 02/2003
    Physician-assisted suicide is difficult and controversial. With recent laws allowing physicians to assist in a terminally ill patient's suicide under certain circumstances, the debate concerning the appropriate and ethical role for physicians has intensified. This paper utilizes data from a 1997 survey of family physicians in Washington.
  • Medicare Physician Payment
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 01/2003
    This rural policy brief examines how the Resource-Based Relative Value Scale has replaced the 25-year-old Medicare CPR charge system.
  • The Effects of the 1997 Balanced Budget Act on Family Practice Residency Training Programs
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2003
    This study assessed the impact of the Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of 1997 on family practice residency training programs in the United States.

2002

  • Rural Dimensions of Medicare Reimbursement for Inpatient and Outpatient Institutional and Physician Services
    NORC Walsh Center for Rural Health Analysis
    Date: 12/2002
    This report examines major Medicare payment policies from the rural perspective and summarizes major payment policies with explicit rural dimensions that directly affect physicians and hospitals. It looks at whether direct rural impacts are consistent with legislative and regulatory intentions.
  • Accounting for Graduate Medical Education Funding in Family Practice Training
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 10/2002
    Medicare provides the majority of funding to support graduate medical education (GME). Following the flow of these funds from hospitals to training programs is an important step in accounting for GME funding.
  • Family Medicine Training in Rural Areas
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 09/2002

    Letter to the Editor: The discipline of family medicine was created in the 1970s, in part, as a way to address the chronic shortage of US rural physicians. It was predicted that the new discipline would augment the supply of rural clinicians because family physicians are much more likely than other physicians to settle in rural areas.

    There is also empirical evidence that training family physicians in rural areas increases the likelihood that residency graduates will choose to settle in rural places. However, the exact proportion of family medicine residency programs located in truly rural parts of the United States remains unknown, as does the extent to which training rural physicians is a priority of existing family medicine residency programs.

  • Rural Research Focus: Rural Physician Shortages
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2002
    This paper discusses a model for understanding how many physicians a rural community can support, based on research at the WWAMI Rural Health Research Center.
  • The Immediate and Future Role of the J-1 Visa Waiver Program for Physicians: The Consequences of Change for Rural Health Care Service Delivery
    RUPRI Center for Rural Health Policy Analysis
    Date: 04/2002
    This paper examines the consequences for the delivery of healthcare services in rural underserved areas if current policies governing the granting of J-1 visa waivers are changed and increases or decreases the numbers of physicians affected.
  • Family Medicine Residency Training in Rural Areas: How Much Is Taking Place, and Is It Enough to Prepare a Future Generation of Rural Family Physicians?
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 03/2002
    This paper examines how much rural family practice training is taking place in the United States. The report concludes that to the extent that there is a link between the place of training and future practice, the lack of rural training contributes to the shortage of rural physicians.

2001

2000

  • Why Do Rural Primary-Care Physicians Sell Their Practices?
    University of Minnesota Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 06/2000
    This study evaluates why rural primary care physicians sell their practices. It examines the factors that led independent physicians to sell their practices to either non-local buyers, local hospitals, or local physicians.
  • U.S. Medical Schools and the Rural Family Physician Gender Gap
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 05/2000
    Women comprise increasing proportions of med school graduates. They tend to choose primary care but are less likely than men to choose rural practice. This study identified the U.S. medical schools most successful at producing rural family physicians and general practitioners of both genders.
  • The Effect of the Doctor-Patient Relationship on Emergency Department Use Among the Elderly
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 01/2000
    OBJECTIVES: This study sought to determine the rate of emergency department use among the elderly and examined whether that use is reduced if the patient has a principal-care physician.
    METHODS: The Health Care Financing Administration's National Claims History File was used to study emergency department use by Medicare patients older than 65 years in Washington State during 1994. RESULTS: A total of 18.1% of patients had 1 or more emergency department visits during the study year; the rate increased with age and illness severity. Patients with principal-care physicians were much less likely to use the emergency department for every category of disease severity. After case mix, Medicaid eligibility, and rural/urban residence were controlled for, the odds ratio for having any emergency department visit was 0.47 for patients with a generalist principal-care physician and 0.58 for patients with a specialist principal-care physician.
    CONCLUSIONS: The rate of emergency department use among the elderly is substantial, and most visits are for serious medical problems. The presence of a continuous relationship with a physician--regardless of specialty--may reduce emergency department use.
  • The Distribution of Rural Female Generalist Physicians in the United States
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2000
    Female physicians are underrepresented in rural areas. What impact might the increasing proportion of women in medicine have on the rural physician shortage? To begin addressing this question, we present data describing the geographic distribution of female physicians in the United States.
  • Educating Generalist Physicians for Rural Practice: How Are We Doing?
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 2000
    About 20 percent of Americans live in rural areas, 9 percent of physicians practice there. Physicians consistently settle in metropolitan, suburban, and other nonrural areas. This report summarizes the successes/failures of medical education and government initiatives intended to prepare and place more generalist physicians in rural practice.

1999

  • The Production of Rural Female Generalists by U.S. Medical Schools
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 05/1999
    This paper compares the production of rural female generalists among medical schools. Data from the AMA Physician Masterfile for the 1988-1996 graduate cohort were used to compare the production of rural female generalists by medical school. Outcome measures included total number and percentage of rural female generalist graduates of each school.
  • Dimensions of Retention: A National Study of the Locational Histories of Physician Assistants
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 1999
    This study describes the locational histories of a representative national sample of physician assistants and considers the implications of observed locational behavior for recruitment and retention of physician assistants in rural practice.
  • Rural and Urban Physicians: Does the Content of Their Medicare Practices Differ?
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 1999
    Rural and urban areas have significant differences in the availability of medical technology, medical practice structures and patient populations. This study uses 1994 Medicare claims data to examine whether these differences are associated with variation in the content of practice between physicians practicing in rural and urban areas.

1997

  • The National Health Service Corps: Rural Physician Service and Retention
    Journal Article
    WWAMI Rural Health Research Center
    Date: 07/1997
    The National Health Service Corps (NHSC) scholarship program is the most ambitious program in the US designed to supply physicians to underserved areas, in addition the NHSC promotes long-term retention of physicians in the areas to which they were initially assigned. This study explores some of the issues involved in retention in rural areas.