Where are there primary care shortages in Virginia?

RICHMOND, Va. (WRIC) -- New research from Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) revealed where there are primary care shortages in the Commonwealth.

According to a new study shared by the university on Thursday, Aug. 7, the research revealed that rural communities had significantly less primary care access compared to suburban or urban neighborhoods.

Previous VCU research from late July showed that nearly 44% of Virginians — about 3.8 million people — face limited access to primary care services. However, the study emphasized that rural areas were particularly affected.

Residents who are often forced to travel long distances for basic medical services actually led to many to delay or forgo necessary care, per the July study published in the Annals of Family Medicine. It also revealed that there were about 725 fewer patients compared with those in suburban tracts.

The new research further emphasized those points and revealed that areas with more Black residents had greater access to primary care services than those with mainly white residents.

“This may be due to the fact that predominantly Black neighborhoods in Virginia tend to be in urban areas, which this study has shown typically have a greater number of primary care physicians,” said Hannah Shadowen, who led the study. “These trends could also be the result of local and national efforts to address the health needs of historically marginalized neighborhoods, such as Federally Qualified Health Centers and pathway programs.” 

The map, displayed below, showed both where they were lacking and where they had an adequate number of primary care physicians.

(Photo: VCU)

VCU said Shadowen, who contributed the map, identified primary care provider deficiencies by "calculating the total patient capacity of all physicians within a 30-minute drive of each census tract and compared this number with the census tract’s population size."

While notable areas in the southeastern part of Virginia, like Chesapeake and Suffolk, as well as the western part of Virginia, like Clifton Forge and Highland, showed a notable deficit, many western parts of Central Virginia, specifically, lacked primary care physicians.

There were an adequate number of physicians in major cities like Charlottesville, Richmond and Fredericksburg.

Despite these notable numbers, the findings show that more work needs to be done to increase the Commonwealth's rural primary care workforce, per the recent study.

VCU highlighted some changes healthcare can make, such as expanding residency programs in rural settings or establishing incentive programs. This includes loan repayment benefits, which could lessen the gaps in healthcare access.