Rural Practice Made Attractive: A Scoping Review of Rural Primary Care Physician Recruitment and Retention Incentives
Most rural PCP workforce development programs did not report retention outcomes. Among those that did, financial incentive programs had higher retention rates than rural education and residency programs. These findings are limited by the heterogeneity of results reported and the variability in program sample sizes. Additionally, many education programs reported the number of clinicians in rural areas but did not specify whether they were in primary care. Future program reports and research should standardize reporting to include the number of individuals who completed the program, their specialty, duration of rural practice post service time commitment, and current practice status in rural areas.
Authors
- Kelley Arredondo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6657-3379)
- Hilary Touchett
- Laura Witte (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7247-3902)
- Kyung S. Bay
- Mandi Sonnenfeld (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6958-2641)
- Matthew P. Vincenti
- Alexander Paterson-Roberts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-7296-9154)
- Bradley V. Watts
Institutions
- Dartmouth College (US)
- University of Vermont (US)
- Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center (US)
- Baylor College of Medicine (US)
- White River Junction VA Medical Center (US)
- Mental Illness Research, Education and Clinical Centers (US)
- South Texas Veterans Health Care System (US)
- University of Houston (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of General Internal Medicine
- Published
- 2026-01-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-026-10218-8
- Primary Topic
- Global Health Workforce Issues
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs
- Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety
- Office of Rural Health