Millions of dollars have been spent, year after year, describing the same problems affecting rural healthcare. Rural healthcare problems are similar throughout the country. Texas has the largest percentage of rural population at risk. North Carolina is number two.

Academicians and non profit groups, year after year, describe the same problems and prescribe the same solutions. More money. More programs. More mandates and give-aways. They are long on generalities, create new buzz words and faux health problems, and incredibly short of real world, practical solutions. Studies that cost millions of dollars that could be channeled into ... real world, practical solutions that could benefit hundreds of thousands of people.

The short and sweet summary of Rural Health problems (without spending Millions of $$$):

• Low Population Density
• Lower Average Incomes
• Lower Average Education
• Higher Poverty Rates
• Increasing Elderly Population Rates
• Longer Distances to Travel
• Fewer Physicians, Medical Professionals, and Specialty Medical Services
• Smaller hospitals, with fewer services and smaller margins, operating at increasing risk of closure

These problems, in various combinations, form three main issues:
(1) Increased difficulty in creating and sustaining large, higher margin businesses (of all kinds) to increase employment opportunities, pay higher wages, and bring additional revenue to rural county economies.
(2) Higher rates of preventable chronic disease states, requiring greater medical care support.
(3) Higher per-visit cost structures for the provision of regional, rural medical care.