Category: Primary Care Disrupted

World-Famous Wall Drug Isn’t Immune From Challenges Facing Rural Pharmacies

Even as part of a popular South Dakota tourist attraction, an independent pharmacy serving locals, remote ranchers, and sightseers struggles with staffing and insurer payments.

How Primary Care Is Being Disrupted: A Video Primer

Under pressure from increased demand, consolidation, and changing patient expectations, the model of care no longer means visiting the same doctor for decades.

Compensation Is Key to Fixing Primary Care Shortage

Many proposals have been floated about how to address the nation’s primary care problem. They range from training slots to medical school debt forgiveness but often sidestep comprehensive payment reform.

What Mobile Clinics in Dollar General Parking Lots Say About Health Care in Rural America

Dollar General’s pilot mobile clinic program has been touted by company officials, rural health experts, and analysts as a model that could help solve rural America’s primary care shortage. But its Tennessee launch has been met with local skepticism.

With Its Two Doctors Planning to Retire, an Alabama Town Patches Together Health Care Options

LaFayette and other rural areas of the country tend to have high rates of health problems but not enough doctors. Many are adapting by investing in nontraditional prevention and treatment options.

The Shrinking Number of Primary Care Physicians Is Reaching a Tipping Point

The declining share of U.S. doctors in adult primary care is about 25% — a point beyond which many Americans won’t be able to find a family doctor at all.

Funyuns and Flu Shots? Gas Station Company Ventures Into Urgent Care

A Tulsa-based gas station chain is using its knowledge of how to serve customers and locate shops in easy-to-find spots to enter the urgent care industry, which has doubled in size over the past decade. Experts question how the explosion of convenient clinics will affect care costs and wait times.

Funyuns and Flu Shots? Gas Station Company Ventures Into Urgent Care

A Tulsa-based gas station chain is using its knowledge of how to serve customers and locate shops in easy-to-find spots to enter the urgent care industry, which has doubled in size over the past decade. Experts question how the explosion of convenient clinics will affect care costs and wait times.

Sen. Sanders Says Millions of People Can’t Find a Doctor. He’s Mostly Right.

The Vermont senator sees beefing up the primary care workforce as a critical step in expanding Americans’ access to health care.

Home Sweet Parking Lot: Some Hospitals Welcome RV Living for Patients, Families, and Workers

Medical and RV industry professionals say hospitals that offer RV parking are easing access to health care for some patients who drive long distances for treatment, like many rural residents.