Osteopathic care a rapidly growing profession, especially in small towns and at rural colleges

As more rural Americans gain access to health insurance under federal health reform, those with a brand new insurance card are seeking out doctors, only to find that many small towns are facing doctor shortages and existing doctors are overloaded with patients and unable to take on new ones. That could soon change for patients seeking osteopathic care, a profession that has steadily grown. Many osteopathic programs are popping up in rural areas, such as Pikeville University in Eastern Kentucky.

"Colleges of osteopathic medicine—there are now 42, including branch campuses—are seldom attached to teaching hospitals," Michael Ollove reports for Stateline. "Most send their students to community medical centers for training. The schools tend to be located in areas that are medically underserved, and they encourage their graduates to work in such areas. In the past, that has meant building osteopathic medical programs in rural areas, like Appalachia and the Great Plains. But recently, they have also located in underserved urban and suburban areas as well. (Stateline graphic)

"Osteopathic doctors are in every state, and colleges of osteopathic medicine have sprouted up in all regions, some in collaboration with public universities," Ollove writes. "According to the American Association of Colleges of Osteopathic Medicine, more than 20 percent of medical students now train in osteopathic medicine."

That wasn't always the case. The profession has grown from 13,022 osteopathic practitioners in the U.S. in 1970 to more than 82,000 today, compared to 790,000 medical doctors, Ollove writes. "Most Americans are probably unaware that two tracks of medical training exist, both of them producing fully licensed physicians. Although osteopathic medical graduates can and do go on to all the medical specialties when they become residents, osteopathic medical colleges discourage early specialization and emphasize general medicine."

Clif Knight, an M.D., and vice president for education at the American Academy of Family Physicians, "said that while some allopathic medical schools are strong in family medicine, others are not, perhaps to the point of not even having departments of family medicine," Ollove writes. Knight told him, “Osteopathic medicine has a much more consistent focus on primary care" and gives students early exposure to patients to emphasize the importance of forging strong relationships with them. (Read more)