"Osteopathic Doctors Bridge Gap in Rural Primary Care"
Originally Published 2 years ago — by NPR
With many medical doctors preferring to work in cities, rural areas in the US are facing a shortage of primary care physicians. Osteopathic physicians, or DOs, are helping fill the gap, with over half of them working in primary care. The number of DOs has quadrupled since 1990, and many of the new osteopathic medical schools are located in rural states. DOs are trained to focus on primary care, and their training is now widely considered comparable to that of MDs. Patients in rural areas are increasingly turning to DOs for their healthcare needs.