How do malpractice insurance costs affect services in a rural community?
High malpractice premiums can contribute to health care access problems in rural areas by causing physicians to eliminate higher risk services such as obstetrics and certain kinds of surgery. Patients requiring those services then must travel further for care or be transferred to a facility where the services are available. High premiums can also make it difficult to recruit or retain an adequate number of physicians in rural areas, or to recruit certain specialists whose premiums are high.
