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Access to Care

4.  Increase Recruitment and Retention of Medical and Dental Providers

Background:

Nevada has one of the highest shortages of health care professionals in the country, and given our rapidly growing population and the increasing aging community, this dismal situation is only going to continue to get worse unless immediate changes are made. Clinics in isolated areas are frequently unable to fill open positions, thus forcing many residents to drive multiple hours roundtrip into other Nevada cities. On the other hand, Federally Qualified Community Health Centers in urban areas are often overwhelmed with a disproportionately high number of patients because there are not enough providers in the area who will serve uninsured or Medicaid patients. They are also unable to hire new physicians because they are faced with the same provider shortage as the rest of the state.  

Even an insured person struggles to find a physician who will both see a new patient and also accept the person’s health insurance, as providers have become much more selective when it comes to accepting new patients. So, if insured residents are unable to locate a physician to see them, then imagine the fight that Nevada’s 450,000 uninsured residents are faced with every time they need medical care.  

Nevada needs to find fast and effective ways to tackle our growing medical provider shortage problem. Offering incentives like loan repayment plans will encourage out-of-state physicians to practice in Nevada. Moreover, identifying and expanding alternate treatment options like telemedicine programs can help increase health care access in rural areas. We have to address this problem now before even more Nevadans are without access to a medical provider and then end up in the Emergency Room.  

Challenges:

Proposed Solutions:

Low-income Nevadans frequently are unable to access low-cost medical care, thus making it essential to offer incentives to physicians and other medical providers who will accept Medicaid, Nevada Check-Up, and uninsured patients. Given the large shortage of medical providers in Nevada, most do not see a need to accept Medicaid and Nevada Checkup patients, as they already have a full caseload. Increasing the number of medical providers will encourage more of them to accept Medicaid and Nevada Check-Up patients.

Medical professionals typically graduate from college with considerable debt, therefore making it challenging for them to work in underserved communities while repaying their student loans. Expanding state programs that provide loan repayment options for providers who are willing to work in shortage areas could encourage more new graduates to practice in Nevada’s high need areas.  

Given that medical providers are often reluctant to move to isolated rural areas and that even when they do, they seldom have enough patients to sustain a private practice, other alternative methods need to be developed to ensure rural Nevadans have access to quality, low-cost health care. Telemedicine programs have been proven to be highly cost-effective and allow providers to help patients across the state. 

Included Benefits: