Commitment to the Rural Community

The health care crisis of Appalachia is escalating while a physician shortage is growing nationwide. The American Journal of Public Health, Health Affairs, and the American Medical News have all reported predictions for a national physician shortage that could reach 50,000 by 2010, and 200,000 physicians by 2020. Throughout the next decade, the evolving physician shortage and increasing urban demand will draw "more and more" physicians away from rural locations and into urban environments where patient numbers and the economy are greater. As the current physician population in Appalachia ages, a college training young physicians committed to the mission of rural and underserved care is a great resource for Southwest Virginia and the Appalachian Region.

The number of counties in Virginia that are designated as medically underserved and health profession shortage areas remain high. Many of VCOM's teaching hospitals are located in the medically underserved areas of Southwest and Southside Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina. Historically, there are few medical schools that are founded to serve the rural areas. The VCOM model provides a method of increased and sustained quality health care delivery to underserved Appalachia. History, and many scientific studies, has shown that to be successful in training rural primary care physicians, a college must recruit students from the rural area, provide significant training in the rural area, and provide incentives to return to the area. Data demonstrates that students from a rural area who retain close contact with their home environment will remain in a rural area when it is economically feasible.