Data Collection Inventory

Rural Health and Primary Care (RHPC) aims to meet the following priorities and goals: Access – To increase access to quality health care services for rural and underserved populations; Quality – To improve the quality of care provided at Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Health Clinics; Sustainability – To improve financial and operational outcomes of Critical Access Hospitals and Rural Health Clinics; and Workforce – To increase the number of health care providers serving rural and underserved populations. RHPC houses the Primary Care Office (PCO), State Office of Rural Health (SORH), the Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex), the Small Rural Hospital Improvement Program (SHIP), the State Loan Repayment Program, the J-1 Visa Waiver (Conrad 30) program, and the Health Professions Data Center (HPDC). The HPDC was developed to collect supply and capacity data from health care professionals to estimate current and anticipated primary care supply and capacity. Provider surveys are implemented during the license renewal cycle with the respective health professions licensing boards. Legislation was passed in 2019 to require participating providers to complete the survey or opt-out form as a condition of renewal. The following provider types are surveyed: physicians, PAs, APRNs, psychologists, LADC/MLADCs, dentists, RDHs, LICSWs, LCMHCs, LMFTs, LPPs.