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Bill introduced to bring more residents to rural communities

Residency Program Insider, June 10, 2016

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 Montana Senator Jon Tester recently introduced the Restoring Rural Residencies Act, a bill that would allow Medicare to reimburse training programs for the time residents spend at critical access hospitals in rural areas. The bill addresses complaints that residency funding doesn’t follow residents when they train at critical access hospitals.

Critical access hospitals are those that have 25 or fewer beds, provide 24-hour emergency care, and are at least a 35 mile drive from another facility. About 70% of hospitals in Montana are critical access hospitals.

In a released statement, Tester said, "Folks in rural communities deserve access to quality health care … Critical Access Hospitals are often the only place families can turn to for care in remote parts of our state. If we want more doctors to practice in rural areas, we need to train them in rural areas and this bill will get more doctors practicing in rural hospitals across Montana."

Source: Billings Gazette

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