Legislative task force ‘overwhelmed’ in dealing with rural health disparities
(The Center Square) — A recent Louisiana task force met on Thursday to address the critical gaps in care for patients with complex chronic diseases, special needs, diabetes and other health issues.
About 15% of Louisiana’s population resides in rural areas, which tend to experience disproportionately poor health outcomes and access to care. These communities face higher rates of conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and obesity due to limited health care access, education, and essential resources such as food, housing, and reliable transportation.
Rural Louisiana, where health disparities are particularly stark, highlights the urgency of these efforts.
According to the Louisiana State Office of Rural Health, 11% of rural adults have heart disease — a rate 32% higher than in urban areas. Diabetes affects 20% of rural residents, 42% higher than urban rates, and rural obesity levels reach 43%, surpassing urban obesity rates by 21%. Tobacco use in rural regions is also notably higher, with 39% of adults using tobacco compared to 27% in urban areas.
Currently, the Health Disparities in Rural Areas Task Force is collaborating with the Louisiana Department of Health to draft a training curriculum for providers caring for individuals with special needs .
Louisiana lacks formalized training standards, which has created gaps in care quality for patients with chronic conditions.
“You don’t know what you don’t know,” task force Chairwoman Karen Wyble said, stressing that, without the proper training, even well-intentioned caregivers can struggle to meet patients’ needs effectively.
The task force also discussed patients with sickle cell, who often experience excruciating pain episodes, face barriers to emergency treatment, as their condition is not always classified as emergent.
Despite a push for better sickle cell education and training for health care providers, the task force noted that there is much work to do.
“We felt we were becoming overwhelmed,” Wyble said, acknowledging the challenges in meeting the needs of this population, especially in rural communities where access to care is already limited.
Dr. Karen Lyon explained that the traditional approach to treating sickle cell disease has concentrated on managing pain and crises with opioids, without addressing the underlying vascular issues.
“Nobody ever looked at the fact that it was a vascular problem,” Lyon said, adding that more should be done to ensure patients receive the right medications to prevent these crises. A key concern is that nurses, both RNs and advanced practice providers, lack the necessary training in this area.
Funding remains a primary concern. The cost of implementing these training programs and determining who will bear these expenses are open questions, with task force members recognizing that health care initiatives often depend on sustainable financial support.
A law was recently passed directing funds from the HERO Fund to the health department, which will allocate these resources to specific programs.
The health department has suggested a matching funds system, where industry, employers, or other stakeholders would contribute to the training budget.
Health care workforce shortages, particularly in rural and specialized areas, add another layer of complexity.
Lyon discussed the workforce landscape, noting that while there may not be an absolute shortage of health care workers, there is a significant “relative shortage” in certain pockets of Louisiana.
New Orleans and Baton Rouge may have adequate numbers, but smaller communities remain underserved, amplifying the challenges of delivering quality care statewide.
“It should never be them or us,” said Wible.”We need our physicians. We need our nurses. We need our respiratory technicians, we need everyone together, working collaboratively, to be able to care for our families.”
