With a commitment to addressing rural health disparities and the challenges faced by Maryland’s rural Eastern Shore residents, the University of Maryland School of Medicine has launched the Rural Health Equity and Access Longitudinal Elective (R-HEALE). The program is designed to train and place incoming medical students in Eastern Shore healthcare practices. It has received $1.4 million in state funding to launch the effort with added funds provided by University of Maryland, Baltimore, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, the Rural Maryland Council and philanthropic donors.

The program, in partnership with the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), has accepted six current first-year medical students with an interest in rural health and will be training them to address shortages. Three students have been awarded full-tuition scholarships with a commitment to working on the Eastern Shore for four years after completing residency training. The students will have didactic and mentoring sessions in Baltimore, followed by research and clinical experiences on the Eastern Shore. The long-term goal is to ultimately support 10 new students interested in rural health in this elective program each year, with 10 full in-state tuition scholarships.

Nearly the entire Eastern Shore is designated by the federal government as a medically underserved area (MUA) and as a “health professional shortage area,” which means residents often lack access to the medical care they need to address pressing health concerns. The five counties in Maryland  with the fewest primary care physicians per capita are all in the Eastern Shore region, with Caroline County having only one health provider per 2,500 state residents compared to Baltimore County which has one provider per 1,000 state residents.

“People living in rural areas on the Eastern Shore often face challenges with access to medical care, which may lead them to skip important appointments or travel an hour or more to Annapolis or Baltimore for the treatment they need,” said Donna Parker, MD, Senior Associate Dean for Undergraduate Medical Education at UMSOM. “With this program, our goal is to develop a cohort of up to 10 additional physicians annually to address the healthcare shortage. By increasing access and reducing long provider wait times, we hope to improve health outcomes in the region.”

Read the full article about addressing rural health inequities by Holly Moody-Porter at STAT News.