THOMASVILLE — Southwest Georgia is losing a lot of rural hospitals, said Elvin Coy Irvin, M.D., Archbold Medical Center chief medical officer.

Costs associated with operating hospitals continue to increase, he said.

“At the same time, reimbursement is going down for hospitals and doctors,” Irvin added.

Insurance companies are cutting back on payments, and Medicare and Medicaid have so many recipients, Irvin said.

Irvin, 65, oversees hospital physicians and matters related to physicians at Archbold. He was in a family medicine practice in Pensacola, Florida, for 28 years before taking the Archbold position a little more than three years ago.

“The current physician shortage is a real challenge facing all healthcare organizations across the United States, but especially those located in rural areas,” said Lorie Garrett, director of physician recruitment at Archbold Medical Center. “And recruiting a younger generation of physicians to rural areas is so difficult that the state is very involved in offering a variety of incentives to aspiring and young physicians to remain in Georgia to practice in our rural areas.”

One of the primary tools Archbold uses to recruit is technology, Garrett said.

“Most younger physicians are already active users of the latest technology and naturally begin searching online,” Garrett pointed out, “and that helps us look across the nation for the right fit for our jobs and community. Secondly, we start forming relationships with local students early in the training process, those training in the area and those who do shorter rotations in our medical system. We make sure they experience some of what the area has to offer while they are living and training here.”

Once Archbold officials make an in-person presentation to a young physician, they work hard to make sure the interview visit goes well and to show the candidate that the area is a fit for their interests and hobbies. 

“It really is all about finding the right fit with the job description, the culture of our organization and with our community,” Garrett said. “We are looking for the young physician who will settle here and bring their family’s talents to our schools, our organizations, our churches, and our businesses.”

Archbold also uses an extensive scholarship and and tuition reimbursement program to promote nursing and allied healthcare careers, said Zach Wheeler, Archbold senior vice president of human resources. 

“We also utilize various strategies to recruit for these professionals to include utilizing multiple social media platforms, outside recruitment agencies, and employee referral programs, among others, to reach out to potential candidates,” he said.

The landscape for rural practices has changed in that the hospitals are more centralized than they used to be, Irvin said.

Some of the procedures and treatments rural doctors used to perform are no longer available in some rural areas, Irvin noted. Keeping skills to be used in a community hospital in a rural area is a challenge, and it is a very different need and skill set than working in a large metropolitan area, Irvin added.

Archbold has long-term leases with county hospital authorities at Brooks County Hospital, Grady General Hospital and Mitchell County Hospital.