List date(s) this work was published or aired.
Jan-12
Provide a brief synopsis of the story or stories, including any significant findings.
Physician recruitment is a challenge in any market, but it’s particularly difficult for hospitals in rural areas, which may not have the big-city amenities or staff support of urban hospitals. This story presents the facts and stats behind the rural physician shortage, then describes successful recruitment strategies that other rural hospitals can emulate. A related Web-only article (Hope on the Range) offers three more specific strategies.
Explain types of documents, data or Internet resources used. Were FOI or public records act requests required? How did this affect the work?
This story used data from the Washington-Wyoming-Alaska-Montana-Idaho Rural Health Center, Merritt Hawkins (a physician search firm), the Association of American Medical Colleges, Health Resources and Services Administration, Rural Assistance Center, the Kaiser Family Foundation and the National Health Care Workforce Commission. The author also used articles from Health Affairs.
Explain types of human sources used.
The author used rural hospital CEOs and physicians to tell their organizations’ stories, and used health policy experts to provide context.
Results:
None
Follow-up (if any). Have you run a correction or clarification on the report or has anyone come forward to challenge its accuracy? If so, please explain.
None
Advice to other journalists planning a similar story or project.
The most important sources are hospital CEOs and if possible, physicians. They add the human side to a story that otherwise would just be statistics.