Isn't that a straightforwardly expected result of low population density?
If your area doesn't have many people, that means less demand for certain things, potentially not enough demand to keep permanent staff for particular types of care.
Of course, the other issue is that doctors (and nurses?) may simply not want to live in rural areas, even with the financial advantages.
I don’t really disagree, but for what it’s worth within an hour radius of my location there are roughly 400,000 people… so how dense do things have to be before it’s enough to support specialty care?
Hmm, that does seem like it should be enough to support things like heart care or general surgery, there should be enough demand. I imagine people who actually work in the industry might have some insights on why this would happen.
If your area doesn't have many people, that means less demand for certain things, potentially not enough demand to keep permanent staff for particular types of care.
Of course, the other issue is that doctors (and nurses?) may simply not want to live in rural areas, even with the financial advantages.