Franken Report Pushes Congress for Solutions to Rural Healthcare Issues

In a December 2014 gathering of top rural healthcare experts and policymakers in Minnesota, Sen. Al Franken (D-MN), following up on the challenges of meeting the state’s rural healthcare needs and taking advantage of its consistent ability to come up with innovative solutions for healthcare, announced a 2015 “Rural Health Tour” to assess the pressing needs of rural providers and patients.

What resulted were 28 roundtable discussions with nearly 300 healthcare stakeholders and community leaders to identify major challenges in the system for those in rural communities.

In a final report titled Stepping Up to the Challenge: Keeping Rural Communities Healthy, common challenges facing those in rural communities were determined to be:

Long distances traveled to access care, with limited transportation options—Barriers include not having the full array of necessary health services within or near communities and limited or no transportation options for patients. Rural providers have limited broadband service to support technology improvements. The changing demographic landscape of rural America can make care more inaccessible and expensive, while patients and providers alike encounter frustrations trying to navigate the array of complicated federal, state and local healthcare systems.

Providers facing fewer available resources and skilled workers—Healthcare facilities in rural communities have more difficulty recruiting and retaining a skilled workforce than providers in urban or suburban settings, especially in the mental health, long term care and primary care fields.

Uncertain funding for access and services—Rural communities rely heavily on government funding and public and private grants that are not always adequate to sustain the delivery of needed care and services.

Regulations limiting care—Often rural providers must deal with regulations, administrative burdens and policies that strain resources and create problems for them and their patients.

Franken said he’d take the findings to Washington, DC, share them with other members for the Senate Rural Health Caucus and use them to support his push for solutions to healthcare problems in rural communities across the country.