In rural Washington, patients travel hours for basic healthcare
In Washington, patients outside of urban centers often travel long distances to get basic health care, and researchers and providers say the impact — on everything from dementia treatment to maternity care — can lead to worse patient outcomes and delays in treatment.
Medical institutions are working on solutions, but many are systemic changes whose effect may not be clear for years. One upstream solution was the 2017 opening of Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine in Spokane, a medical school focused on placing new physicians in the state’s underserved rural areas.
Training in other disciplines is also helping. Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences trains future osteopathic clinicians in the Yakima Valley with an emphasis on serving rural communities. And other healthcare workers like physician assistants and advanced registered nurse practitioners can fill some gaps around the state.
Telehealth is also making a difference. But training physicians can take a decade or more, and not all kinds of care translate well to a virtual space. In the meantime, patients face major disparities in access to basic — and sometimes urgent — care between urban and rural Washington, and between east and west.
https://crosscut.com/news/2024/03/rural-washington-patients-travel-hours-basic-healthcare
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