With nearly 60 million Americans living in rural areas, having access to primary and specialty care providers can cause challenges in those rural communities, informs Ramona Tinkham, Manager of Physician Offices for OSF HealthCare:
“They can be limited by a lot of things. For some it is distance, they can’t get to places. There are workforce shortages and nowadays there are just fewer resources in our area. We try to make sure we have those strong rural health systems to ensure they are trying to get timely care, high quality care right here close to home. That is something that OSF has always been committed to trying to make sure those patients have that access,” states Tinkham.
“It is unfortunate, that there is limited access for primary care and specialty providers anymore. Sometimes you have to travel farther distances to get some of those specialty needs, sometimes you have more chronic conditions that are at a higher rate for those patients, and fewer behavioral health resources for patients. Then there is a transportation barrier for some patients,” Tinkham adds.
To further expand healthcare services to individuals in rural communities, Tinkham reminds patients that telehealth and virtual urgent care options are available through OSF HealthCare, as well as, same day appointment options with the OSF Medical Group Rural Health Clinic in Monmouth.
