The University of Iowa is asking lawmakers to provide $3.6 Million to recruit and support rural students interested in a career in health care. Barbara Wilson, the University of Iowa’s president, made the pitch during a recent budget hearing at the statehouse.
Federal data indicates there are more than 360 health professional shortage areas in Iowa and most of those are in rural parts of the state. Some of the new state funding would be used to provide scholarships to University of Iowa medical students who plan to work in rural Iowa after they graduate.
Wilson says another portion of the money would be focused on the training period after a doctor has graduated from medical school by creating more medical residencies in rural Iowa.
Fewer than 9% of U-S physicians practice in rural areas.
