Context: Patients in rural areas may use less medical care than those living in urban areas. This could be due to differences in travel distance and time and a utilization of a different mix of generalists and specialists for their care. Purpose: To compare the travel times, distances, and physician specialty mix of all Medicare patients living in…

Between 1980 and 1988, 132 rural hospitals closed and as a result many rural towns also lost physicians, including 19 communities that were still without a physician 2 years after closure. Smaller, more remote towns had few physicians to begin with and were more likely than larger towns to lose physicians along with their hospitals. (LP)