Commonalities of physicians who commit to and stay in rural health care practice is something Indiana University of Pennsylvania’s Miko Rose, founding dean of IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine, wants to know.
For Rose and IUP, it’s important information as the university works to develop the proposed college and recruit and educate physicians committed to practice in rural communities, part of IUP’s commitment to addressing the rural health care crisis in the Commonwealth.
IUP approached the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, with the idea that this could be a state-wide research study, and important to its citizens.
The Center, which works with the legislature, educators, state and federal executive branch agencies, and national, statewide, regional, and local organizations to maximize resources and strategies that can better serve Pennsylvania’s nearly 3.4 million rural residents, enthusiastically agreed.
The Center is funding the distribution of the state-wide research study “Understanding Physician Retention in Rural Pennsylvania: A Collaborative Research Study by the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, IUP, and AHEC (Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center)” to more than 6,500 physicians in rural practices in the Commonwealth. The survey will also be sent to 2,000 additional physicians in the state to help with data analysis.
“The Shapiro Administration is committed to supporting rural communities through our work to protect health networks and care providers in rural communities who are a cornerstone for an active economy and further growth and vitality,” said Department of Human Services Secretary Val Arkoosh.
“This survey will help us better understand experiences of physicians who choose to practice in rural communities, providing important insights to inform and steer our continued work to encourage current health care providers to continue practicing and future providers to consider establishing roots in our rural communities.”
Distribution of the survey will take place this spring.
Rose developed the questions for the survey with IUP’s Applied Research Lab Director Paul Hawkins, and IUP’s Applied Research Lab will compile and analyze the survey data.
Vice Provost for Research and Innovation Hilliary Creely and IUP Director of Strategic Partnerships Christina Koren also are collaborating on the project.
The IUP’s Applied Research Lab, part of IUP’s Research and Innovation, is an interdisciplinary research consulting center dedicated to providing expert assistance to the IUP research community and to select community projects.
“The grant to support work focused on improving the lives of rural Pennsylvanians is another endorsement of the vision and work of Dr. Rose, Dr. Creely, and our Applied Research Lab,” IUP President Michael Driscoll said.
“As a former member of the Pennsylvania Center for Rural Pennsylvania Board of Directors, I know, firsthand, of the quality of the Center’s efforts and its commitment to improving the lives of the citizens of Pennsylvania.
“IUP is very proud to develop this survey and to have the financial support of the Pennsylvania Center for Rural Pennsylvania to gather this important data,” IUP President Driscoll said.
“This data will be invaluable for our work and for the work of so many others throughout the state as we work together to address the rural health care crisis in the Commonwealth.”
Rose and proposed college of osteopathic medicine Founding Associate Dean of Preclinical Affairs Luke H. Mortensen and Founding Associate Dean of Clinical Affairs and Graduate Education Ryan Smith were invited to present an update on IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine during the February meeting of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s Board of Directors meeting, hosted by IUP at Punxsutawney. During the February meeting, Board members approved funding for the survey and discussed its prospective impact on addressing issues in rural health care.
“No one has really ever done a survey like this before,” Rose said. “There have been a few studies about demographics of rural physicians in practice, but this is something much deeper and more comprehensive. We want to determine common backgrounds, shared values, mindsets, and identify why physicians stay in rural practice. From there, we can recruit and build teams that will contribute to success and retention of rural health care providers throughout rural Pennsylvania,” she said.
“We started out focused on ‘this survey can help us to develop our college’ to ‘we need this survey for the betterment of the Commonwealth and to serve rural citizens in need of health care,’ due in great measure to the outstanding support and encouragement from the Center for Rural Pennsylvania,” Rose said.
“Past approaches have been to redesign recruitment and retention to get ‘more’ students, but our thinking is that we need to flip the script, to understand the qualities, characteristics, and core values of those physicians who stay in rural health care, and then build recruitment strategies that help us find the students that meet these criteria if we are going to move the needle on the rural health care crisis,” she said.
Prior to coming to IUP, in her work at Michigan State University, she developed courses and coursework for physicians, for students, and for key performing athletes all over the world.
“I worked with these athletes and top-performing teams, offering presentations and workshops for athletes on peak performance to improve and enhance their performance,” Rose said. “The Center for Rural Pennsylvania realized that this work to develop the highest possible performing team can translate to recruiting the right students who want to serve rural Pennsylvania’s health care needs,” she said.
The anticipated outcomes of the survey include understanding why physicians choose rural practice, improving rural healthcare through retention strategies, shaping policies for rural healthcare sustainability, and enhancing rural communities and health systems.
“The Center for Rural Pennsylvania is honored to partner with the IUP proposed college of osteopathic medicine on this important survey of rural physicians,” Executive Director of the Center for Rural Pennsylvania Kyle C. Kopko said. “This initiative is a significant step toward addressing the challenges of rural health care and ensuring greater access to physicians in underserved, rural areas. IUP’s continued commitment to health care in this region will have lasting positive effects on the rural communities it serves.
“We anticipate that the survey findings will be released by the end of summer 2025,” Kopko said.
IUP’s Council of Trustees endorsed the exploration of a possible development of a college of osteopathic medicine at IUP in December 2022; Rose was hired as the founding dean in November 2023, and IUP has formally initiated steps towards accreditation of its proposed college of osteopathic medicine from the American Osteopathic Association’s Commission on Osteopathic College Accreditation.
There are only three colleges of osteopathic medicine in Pennsylvania, all at private universities; IUP’s proposed college of osteopathic medicine would be the only college of osteopathic medicine at a public university.
National studies show that graduates from programs of osteopathic medicine are more likely to pursue primary care in rural and underserved areas—57 percent of all doctors of osteopathic medicine practice as general practitioners, and more than 20 percent of DO graduates practice in rural areas. Demand is high for osteopathic medicine training: in 2021, 22,708 applicants competed for 8,280 seats at schools of osteopathic medicine.
IUP has secured more than $31 million in private and government funding for the proposed college of osteopathic medicine, including two gifts of $250,000 received in February. Once established, the college is expected to generate $79 million in annual regional economic impact.
In addition to hiring the founding dean and securing funding, establishing clinical training sites for students is a key part of the successful accreditation process. Typically, students in colleges of osteopathic medicine spend the first two years of their education in the classroom; during the third and fourth years, students are based in the community at clinical sites.
To date, IUP has finalized 11 clinical training affiliation agreements for students in the proposed college of osteopathic medicine: Broad Top Area Medical Center, Clarion Psychiatric Center, Conemaugh Memorial Medical Center, Conemaugh Nason Medical Center, Hyndman Area Health Centers, Nulton Diagnostics and Treatment Center, The Primary Health Network, Penn Highlands Healthcare Dubois, and all three members of the Pennsylvania Mountains Care Network: Armstrong County Memorial Hospital, Indiana Regional Medical Center, and Punxsutawney Area Hospital.
IUP’s Indiana Campus Long-Range Facilities Master Plan update, approved in January 2024 by the IUP Council of Trustees, recommended Johnson Hall, Uhler Hall, and Stright Hall be the site for the health sciences cluster, with a renovated and expanded Johnson Hall as the primary location for the proposed college of osteopathic medicine.
This proposed health science cluster will provide a transformational modern medical education facility, supporting and housing the proposed college of osteopathic medicine and related IUP health science programs in the College of Health Sciences.
In October 2024, The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors designated $2 million in design funds as part of the 2024–25 State System of Higher Education capital allocations budget for the academic building renovation for the health sciences cluster and proposed college of osteopathic medicine.