rural doctors

A new analysis shows that students graduating from U.S. medical schools were less likely to apply this year for residencies across specialties in states with restrictions on abortion, such as Missouri and Kansas.

Many hospitals are shuttering their labor and delivery units because insurance companies and Medicaid aren't reimbursing hospitals enough to cover the cost of births.

After three years of free-to-ride public buses, the Kansas City Area Transportation Authority is thinking about charging fares again. Plus: Large areas of Missouri and Kansas are without primary care doctors, but many hope that medical students just starting their careers will help remedy that.

As much as 80% of Missouri and about 50% of Kansas lacks a primary care doctor, according the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, leading to hours-long drives for patients. Medical school students just starting their careers may hold the key to serving those communities.

Americans are becoming less and less likely to believe our fellow citizens are trying to do the right thing, and that has added to the crisis facing rural health care. Plus: Are Midwest homes prepared for more scorching summer days?

Hundreds of thousands of people died in the pandemic because they didn’t trust the government or their neighbors to do the right thing. And it’s not getting better. Today distrust is making people sicker, especially where health care is fragile across giant swaths of rural America.

The state will repay educational costs for health care workers who are willing to work in underserved areas. Another program will increase the number of medical residencies in Missouri.

New Growth Transit connects Missouri's rural residents who can't get to their medical and health care appointments with a network of volunteer drivers.

A private equity firm shuttered rural hospitals in Missouri a year ago. It's now facing state and federal investigations, as well as lawsuits.

Many transgender people seeking gender-affirming and other medical care in rural areas have to educate their doctors about their needs — if they can find supportive health providers at all.

Community health centers around the country paid $410 million from 2018 to 2021 in 485 settlements or judgments over malpractice suits. The centers and their employees have immunity from medical malpractice lawsuits, meaning the federal government pays any settlements or court judgments.

Missouri residents may have heard ghoulish tales of “Doc Annie” Smith, a physician who looms large in the state’s mythology for performing illegal abortions in the early 1900s. Today, the truth about her work has largely disappeared.