Trends in the Health Workforce Supply in the Rural U.S.

Abstract
Tracking trends in the rural health care workforce is critical for identifying potential gaps and developing targeted solutions to ensure an optimal supply of health professionals to care for rural communities. This report describes trends in the supply and distribution of clinicians in primary care, behavioral health, and obstetrical care, as well as dentists, surgeons, community health workers, and home health aides, in the rural vs. urban U.S. workforce nationally and regionally. We also examined the availability of current and historical workforce data for professions important for rural communities. Nationally, the rural supply of physicians overall, primary care physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, behavioral health clinicians (including psychiatrists, psychologists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, social workers, and counselors), obstetricians, advanced practice midwives, dentists, surgeons, and home health aides were lower than the urban supply. The supply of rural nurse practitioners and physician assistants quadrupled and tripled respectively in the past 20 years. We also discussed the relative advantages and disadvantages of using various health workforce data sources for rural health research, including the Area Health Resource File, National Provider Identification, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, the American Community Survey, and other single-profession data sources.

Authors:
Andrilla CHA, Woolcock SC, Garberson LA, Keppel GA, Graves JM, Patterson DG

Citation:
Andrilla CHA, Woolcock SC, Garberson LA, Keppel GA, Graves JM, Patterson DG. Trends in Health Workforce Supply in the Rural U.S. Policy Report. WWAMI Rural Health Research Center, University of Washington; October 2024.