Bridging the Gap: Examining Physician Assistant Practice Patterns to Address Kentucky’s Health Care Workforce

Addressing the critical healthcare access issue in the southern United States will require innovation and utilization of the entire healthcare team. With 34% of PAs working in rural counties in Kentucky, policy leaders need to focus on methods to incentivize the next generation of PA providers to rural counties. As the dependency on nonphysician providers increases, future policy decisions and research needs to center around PA practice patterns and understanding of the needs of the next generation of providers.