Key findings from the UnitedHealth report include the following:
• Nearly 5 million rural residents may join Medicaid and other insurance plans as a result of the planned 2014 coverage expansions.
• More than half of rural primary care doctors report that patients they refer to specialty care have to travel an average of approximately 60 miles.
• Approximately 11 million rural residents currently live in areas where primary care supply is relatively low. Taking into account the increase in the insured population, almost half of rural primary care physician respondents expect a primary care shortage over the next few years.
• While nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of urban and suburban residents assess the quality of their local health care as “excellent” or “very good,” only half of rural residents do so (49 percent).
• Nearly a quarter (24 percent) of rural residents say their local care is only “fair” or “poor,” compared to 12 percent of urban and suburban residents.
Read the UnitedHealth release about rural healthcare quality and access.
Read UnitedHealth’s report “Modernizing Rural Health Care: Coverage, Quality and Innovation” (pdf).
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