State Auditor’s Office releases report about rural healthcare

MISSISSIPPI (WCBI) – A report released by Mississippi State Auditor Shad White suggests two healthcare scholarship programs need some improvements to make sure rural area patients get the care they need.

The Mississippi Rural Physicians and Dentists Scholarship Programs were created to place more healthcare professionals in rural areas of the state.

Shad White stated that the programs are working but its policies required an update.

White’s report requests that the program’s policies should tighten the definition of “rural” to guarantee that doctors and dentists are only working in high-need locations outside of a metro area, closely monitor when a doctor or dentist fails to keep their end of the bargain by not working in a rural area, and should be more careful calculating the money scholarship recipients need to repay if they fail to serve in a rural area.

The programs have placed at least 119 physicians and 17 dentists in rural areas of Mississippi but more phycisians and dentists are needed today than 10 years ago, according to the report.

FULL REPORT: Rural Healthcare Scholarship Programs

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