Majority of Rural Tennessee Counties Face Doctor Shortages, Report Finds

Seventy-four percent of Tennessee's 91 rural counties have shortages of health professionals, and 55% have a need for primary care physicians in particular, according to an April 2002 study, the Nashville Business Journal reports. Of those counties with shortages, at least 30% have gone without an adequate number of doctors for the last 20 years. The study, which was conducted by the Tennessee Health Professions Demand Assessment Advisory Group -- a collaboration of the Rural Health Association of Tennessee and East Tennessee State University -- includes responses from 120 hospitals, health systems, rural health clinics, community and migrant health centers, health departments, physician clinics and office practices in the state's rural counties. Researchers found that in 71% of those counties, respondents said that filling doctor vacancies took more than six months, and in 22% of counties, the time to fill vacancies was more than one year. The report noted that the shortage is particularly acute in the fields of family practice, pediatrics and general internal medicine, where the state's demand is "outstripping" the supply of doctors graduating from medical school (Raiford, Nashville Business Journal, 5/3).