Rural residence and migration for specialty physician care

This article describes why rural residents migrate or travel outside their local market area for specialty physician care. Data were collected through a random mail survey of persons residing in Iowa's rural counties. The res ults imply that migration far specialty care is not simply a function of a low perceived availability of local specialty physicians. Managers of rural and urban health care systems may need to rethink the extent to which spec ialty physician services should be distributed across rural markets. (C) 20 01 Aspen Publishers, Inc.