Rural anesthesia coverage shrinking, threatening patient access: 5 things to know

The bottom line

Rural anesthesia access is thinning fast — facilities reporting staffing gaps roughly doubled in under three years, with CRNAs already providing the overwhelming majority of rural coverage. Leaders in or near rural markets should expect intensifying competition for CRNA staffing in particular. As trade-press synthesis, its statistics are directional context pending verification against primary workforce data.

What the source found

Trade-press synthesis reporting CRNAs provide more than 80% of anesthesia services in rural US counties; rural facilities reporting anesthesia staffing gaps rose from ~35% in early 2020 to 78% by late 2022; references workforce and anesthesiologist shortage statistics including 6,300 projected shortfall.

Limitations and applicability

Trade press; secondary synthesis; methodology of underlying data not described; URL slug references rural access but content covers broader shortage statistics.

Population and setting

Rural U.S. anesthesia workforce

Used in FairShare guides

• The Rural Anesthesia Gap: What the Workforce Data Shows
• The Match Is Getting Harder — And So Is Residency

About this evidence

Research question / practical issue

How does this source inform Retention and the Anesthesia Workforce for the population it studied?

Study design, evidence tier, and source class

Trade Press · context source · evidence tier 3

Source type: Trade Press · context · Evidence tier 3

Topics: Retention and the Anesthesia Workforce

Audience: CRNAs, Department Leaders