Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program - University McDuffie County Regional Medical Center d/b/a Piedmont McDuffie Hospital is a rural acute care hospital located in Thomson, Georgia, serving residents of McDuffie, Warren, Lincoln, Wilkes, Jefferson, Taliaferro, and Glascock Counties. The hospital requests funding through the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Rural Hospital Provider Assistance Program to strengthen its provider sustainability strategy for Emergency Department physicians and Advanced Practice Providers (APPs). Piedmont McDuffie Hospital provides approximately 18,600 Emergency Department visits annually, while maintaining continuous physician coverage for a geographically dispersed rural population. Emergency medicine providers practicing at Piedmont McDuffie Hospital assume significant clinical responsibility, including the rapid evaluation, stabilization, and coordination of care for patients experiencing stroke, myocardial infarction, cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, septic shock, major trauma, and other life-threatening emergencies prior to transfer to tertiary referral centers when specialty services are required. Recruiting and retaining Emergency Department physicians and Advanced Practice Providers has become increasingly difficult due to nationwide workforce shortages, growing competition from larger metropolitan hospitals, and the unique responsibilities associated with rural emergency medicine. During the past year, Piedmont McDuffie Hospital reduced Emergency Department physician vacancies from three full-time vacancies to one remaining vacancy through implementation of a comprehensive provider sustainability strategy focused on recruitment, retention, and workforce engagement. Funding will support provider recruitment investments and performance-based quality compensation that maintain the emergency medicine workforce responsible for preserving continuous access to emergency healthcare services throughout the hospital’s rural service area. Performance-based quality compensation is linked to objective organizational quality measures, including Emergency Department patient satisfaction, patient throughput, arrival-to-decision-to-admit time, Left Without Being Seen (LWBS), Against Medical Advice (AMA), and patient elopement rates. Expected outcomes include successful recruitment of the remaining Emergency Department physician vacancy, improved long-term workforce stability, reduced dependence on temporary staffing, sustained achievement of Emergency Department quality measures, and preservation of uninterrupted emergency medical services for rural east central Georgia. This project directly supports HRSA’s goal of maintaining healthcare providers and preserving essential healthcare services for rural communities experiencing structural payment disadvantages.
