Financial Bonuses for Rural Health Professionals

The Argus Leader, a newspaper in South Dakota, recently published a story about a new program to help recruit and retain healthcare workers. The program, jointly funded by the state and the worker’s employer, will pay newly hired healthcare workers $10,000 after three years if they are still employed by that employer. Healthcare professionals included in the program are dietitians, lab technicians, nurses, nutritionists, occupational therapists, paramedics, pharmacists, physical therapists, radiologic technologists and respiratory therapists.

The article did not contain information about the plans to evaluate the effectiveness of the program. It would be interesting to see if the program does have an impact on the rural health professional workforce. The program can only take up to 60 workers so it is not a large program by any measure and there is no financial incentive for workers after the initial three year period.

You can read about the program here: http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2012308100016