Gazette opinion: Prescription for more of the doctors Montana needs

Nearly all of Montana’s 56 counties are designated primary-care shortage areas, according to information from the Montana Primary Care Office in Helena. Some have no primary care doctors at all, some don’t have enough and some are short of doctors to serve low-income folks. Yellowstone and the few other counties that aren’t designated shortage areas have federally subsidized clinics that serve low-income/rural populations that otherwise would be underserved.

Montana State University http://www.montana.edu/ in Bozeman is formulating a proposal to turn that trend around. An informational item presented at the Board of Regents’ meeting last week in Bozeman calls for providing more Montanans with the opportunity to become primary-care doctors while assuring that they will practice in our state.

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