Millions of Americans Live in a County Without a Surgeon

In medical emergencies, time matters. Seeing a surgeon soon after your appendix has ruptured or you’ve been in a car accident can mean the difference between life and death.But more than a third of U.S. counties have no general surgeons, according to a new analysis published Sept. 28 in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons. While many people assume that surgeons primarily perform elective procedures, many surgeons in rural communities serve multiple roles, says Dr. Thomas Tsai, medical director for health policy research at the American College of Surgeons and a co-author of the study. In that way, “access to surgeons is the keystone for the broader rural health care ecosystem,” he says.The study provides yet another data point that rural health care is in trouble in the U.S. It found that 38% of counties in the U.S.—home to roughly 15 million Americans—have no general surgeons, and 30% of counties have no surgeon across 12 different specialties. Even many rural counties with hospitals, which are often called critical access hospitals, have no full-time surgeon. “The question is, what kind of surgical care is being deferred? How far are people being transferred to receiv...