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Elk County health authority outlines long-term effort to restore rural services, cites maternity 'desert' and insurance hurdles
Summary
Elk County Health Care Authority representatives told commissioners they have formed a 501(c)(3), are pursuing partners and grants, and face recruitment and malpractice-insurance barriers that have left the area short on primary care and maternity services.
Elk County Health Care Authority representatives presented a plan to the county commissioners on efforts to rebuild health services in the rural county, describing a long decline in local specialty care and a continuing shortage of primary physicians.
The authority’s presenter said the county’s local hospital — founded in 1922 and later merged with Penn Highlands in 2013 — has seen services shrink and a drop in clinical capacity such that “we went from 1 doctor per 1,200 residents to about 1 doctor per 2,400 residents,” leaving the area short of general practitioners. The presenter added, “We’re now in a maternity desert the size of Connecticut,” and said there have been “about three babies born in ambulances” since services narrowed.
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