Nationwide rural health care is receiving $32 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
These large grants spell new opportunities for growth for health care facilities located in sparsely populated areas. Students from rural areas of Nebraska who are considering family medical practice could be affected by the support. The growth in rural health care could be a promising incentive for University of Nebraska-Lincoln medical students to practice in those areas.
The bulk of the money is going to Medicare to improve quality of service at Critical Access Hospitals, which are specific institutions that use cost-based Medicare reimbursement. The facilities are selected for their high risk of closure. There are 65 such hospitals in Nebraska.
“These funds reflect the priorities spelled out by President Obama in providing the best health care possible to rural Americans,” said Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services, in an August press release. “The ultimate goal is to build healthier rural populations and communities.”
About 6,725 UNL students are from rural Nebraska counties, according to UNL’s Office of Institutional Research and Planning, so the support given by the federal government could mean a lot toward improving rural health care.
With money earmarked for procuring more health care professionals and expanding health care infrastructure, University of Nebraska Medical Center students could stand to benefit greatly. But it is the people in rural communities who stand to gain the most.
One student who knows about the shortcomings of rural health care is Jordan Ochs, a senior biological sciences major from North Platte.
Some doctors have extensions that they have in smaller towns they visit periodically, Ochs said.
The grants could encourage students, because many pre-med students think it could help with concerns that arose with the health care bill.
With rural health care currently not as helpful as most would hope, the money from the government support will give people in rural areas more options for health care, said Heidi Noecker, a junior nursing major and president of the Pre-Health club.
She said the support could mean a lot for small rural clinics and affect some members of the club, becoming a part of the decision-making process of what they will do for a career once done with school.
Having more money for supplies and more money for more educated professionals gives good incentive to move toward rural health care prospects.
“The number of patients to use this (health care funding) really isn’t that great in numbers, since most people go into big cities for most health care,” Noecker said. “But a patient is a patient, and they are our priority one, and if we can’t help, that isn’t a good thing.”