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AHEC urges level funding, proposes rural incentives to address provider maldistribution
Summary
The Area Health Education Consortium told legislators it seeks level funding and described workforce data showing health professions growth overall but a rural decline; AHEC proposed incentive funding for rural preceptors and career‑ladder strategies to retain providers.
The Area Health Education Consortium presented statewide workforce data and asked the committee for level funding while outlining strategies to address a persistent rural health workforce gap.
AHEC's presenter said the statewide system includes a program office in Charleston and four regional centers and described six program areas spanning the training pipeline. "We did increase our recurring budget by $875,000" last year to build staff and improve data on non‑licensed healthcare workers, the presenter said.
AHEC argued that while overall health professions grew faster than population from 2012–2022 (19% vs. 10%), rural areas saw population declines (~11%) and a 5% reduction in health professionals over the same period. The organization highlighted family medicine residency expansion—saying it works with 18 residency programs with three more accredited—and proposed using Rural Health Transformation funding to provide financial incentives for rural preceptors and to create career ladders to retain staff.
AHEC said incentives could include funds to offset the infrastructure and productivity burden on rural providers who teach students. The presenter said AHEC plans to propose programs that pay or incentivize rural practitioners to take students and described partnerships with FQHCs and community health centers as central to its retention strategy.
Legislators asked whether recent health profession growth reflects new workers moving to growing urban areas or programs expanding in‑state; AHEC said both factors play a role but emphasized the maldistribution between urban growth and rural decline.
AHEC noted it will review proposals when the guidance for the Rural Health Transformation Fund is released and said it will consider proposals that fund rural preceptor incentives, continuing professional development and residency support.
No formal appropriation decision was made at the meeting.
