Southern Oregon does not just need more doctors.

It needs a structural response to a provider shortage that has been building for years.

In this first episode of a three-part Reimagine Healthcare series, Noah Volz examines the healthcare provider shortage in Jackson and Josephine counties — not as an abstract workforce issue, but as a compounding regional crisis affecting patients, employers, hospitals, clinics, and the long-term health of the community.

Jackson and Josephine counties are federally designated Health Professional Shortage Areas. The region has fewer primary care providers per capita than the Oregon average, and rural parts of the region have only about 70% of the primary care capacity they need.

That shows up in real life as six-to-nine-month waits for primary care at La Clinica, Asante fam ...