A state legislative committee is recommending expanded loan forgiveness for doctors and increased funding for mobile screening units to combat a severe shortage of cancer care providers in rural Georgia.
The House Study Committee on Cancer Care Access released its final report following a series of public meetings across the state held last year. The committee, chaired by Rep. Lee Hawkins, a Gainesville Republican, was tasked with identifying barriers to care as cancer cases in the U.S. are expected to rise.
“The rural oncologist is really a dying breed. We don’t have very many oncologists who are setting up shop in rural areas, and part of that is related to the fact that oncology in general is having difficulties with workforce sustainability,” said Dr. Kristin Higgins, chief clinical officer at City of Hope Cancer Center Atlanta and a member of the study committee, in an interview.
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