Reposted from the Rural Assistance Center
“In rural communities, the linkage between healthcare and the vitality of the community is strong.
A robust community helps to support and sustain quality health services for its residents by attracting quality healthcare professionals. Communities with more economic resources may also be more likely to financially support their healthcare system through having higher rates of health insurance coverage, through philanthropic giving, and by investing in infrastructure which the healthcare system can leverage.
In return, a high quality healthcare system can support economic and community development initiatives. This topic guide focuses on how community and economic development can complement health services in rural areas and how collaboration between the sectors can address issues such as population health.”
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the economic impact of healthcare services, facilities, and providers to a rural community?
- Why should local healthcare leadership be involved in community and economic development efforts and what role can they play?
- How can the availability of healthcare services be leveraged in economic and community development efforts?
- How can our rural community illustrate the importance of healthcare to our local economy?
- Where can our rural community find the resources to determine the economic impact of our healthcare sector or a component of the healthcare sector?
- Where can our community or healthcare providers find examples of economic impact studies?
- How can rural healthcare leaders demonstrate the value of their facilities to their community to gain support for initiatives to improve healthcare services and infrastructure?
- Where can our community find training on economic impact and other tools to enhance our local healthcare services, and ultimately, enhance our local community?
- How does the vitality of a rural community affect health workforce recruitment and retention?
- How can rural healthcare facilities work with their community to improve key community factors that affect recruitment and retention of staff?
- Why is it important to consider the capacity of the local healthcare system to anticipate economic growth?
- Where can I find funding opportunities to develop healthcare capacity in my rural area?
About the Rural Assistance Center
A product of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Rural Initiative, the Rural Assistance Center (RAC) was established in December 2002 as a rural health and human services “information portal.” RAC helps rural communities and other rural stakeholders access the full range of available programs, funding, and research that can enable them to provide quality health and human services to rural residents.