(The Center Square) HARRISBURG PA – Pennsylvania expects to soon receive about $193 million in federal funds for rural health care initiatives across the state. The money is being made available to bolster areas where medical care is declining due to shrinking populations, a decrease in providers, and aging patients.
The funding is part of the $50 billion five-year Rural Health Transformation Plan, approved by Congress in July’s federal budget bill. Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Dave McCormick claims the “significant investment … will help Pennsylvania expand access to care and improve health outcomes.”
It also should strengthen the rural health workforce, modernize facilities with technology, and support new and innovative care models, he says.
About a quarter of the state’s population would be affected by the anticipated improvements.
State Department of Human Services Secretary Dr. Val Arkoosh, former chair of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners, reports the plan reflects “more than two years of collaboration,” conversation, and strategizing among “leaders who come from and are invested in these communities, their residents, and their future.”
Problem: Attracting and Keeping Talent
Specifically, Pennsylvania’s plan includes:
- Technology and infrastructure upgrades that could make telehealth visits more accessible to rural residents;
- Maternal health services as a major area of focus, because several counties fall within the definition of “maternity deserts;” and
- Money budgeted for behavioral health, aging and access, and emergency medical services and transportation.
Attracting and retaining talent is central to the state’s plans. Although much of the state’s landscape is rural, the majority of its considerable network of health care providers sit in its largest population centers: Pittsburgh and Philadelphia.
Medical students flock to renowned institutions like those cities medical colleges and universities, but keeping them in the state – much less coaxing them out to its remote corners – is a challenge. Attracting and retaining a skilled workforce is part of the plan to improve rural health care and promote long-term, sustainable access, according to Gov. Josh Shapiro.
This article was written by Christina Lengyel of The Center Square
Photo provided by The Center Square via Freepik, used under license
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