Problems in the development of a rural primary care center.

For 18 months between July 1973 and December 1974, the development of a primary care center for a rural Appalacian county engaged the efforts of local community leaders and the Department of Community Medicine of the University of Kentucky College of Medicine. This case study discusses some of the major events and factors contributing to this unsuccessful endeavor. The local cultural and sociomedical circumstances, including economic and political forces, and the errors in institutional relations and communication are analyzed. Many of the community problems encountered, at both the local and regional levels, are common to various rural areas. Considerations discussed in some detail include medical care payment mechanisms, rural economics, and local sociocultural systems. These community health problems, and the broader health policy issues that they represent, must be addressed before any significant changes or advances can be made in health care in rural America.