Article: "Attracting the next generation of physicians to rural medicine"

AAMCNews contributor, Peter Jaret, outlines the measures being taken by medical schools and teaching hospitals around the nation to draw medical students to some of the most "remote and desperate regions" of the United States.

"Of the more than 7,200 federally designated health professional shortage areas, 3 out of 5 are in rural regions. And while 20% of the US population lives in rural communities, only 11% of physicians practice in such areas. The lack of physicians is deeply worrisome. That's in part because rural residents are more likely to die from health issues like cardiovascular disease, unintentional injury, and chronic lung disease than city-dwellers. Rural residents also tend to be diagnosed with cancer at later stages and have worse outcomes."

Visit the AAMCNews website to read more about the health disparities among rural populations in the US, as well as the various programs being implemented to attract aspiring physicians to practice in rural areas.