Understaffed and Overbooked: The Problems with Maintaining Specialty Care in Rural Areas

About this episode

This episode discusses the challenges faced by oncologists in rural areas due to specialist scarcity.

Dr. Chino welcomes Dr. Erika Moen and Dr. Dan Zuckerman to discuss new research highlighting how specialist scarcity is felt by oncologists practicing in rural environments. Dr. Moen is the first author on " Rural Oncologists' Perceptions of Specialty Scarcity and Repercussions for Care Delivery: A Qualitative Study, " which is featured in JCO OP's January 2026 issue. TRANSCRIPT Dr. Fumiko Chino: Hello, and welcome to Put Into Practice , the podcast for the JCO Oncology Practice . I'm Dr. Fumiko Chino, an Associate Professor in Radiation Oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, with a research focus on access, affordability, and equity. Rural oncology care has many challenges, including travel distance, limited specialty care, sparse clinical trial infrastructure, and financial barriers leading to worse outcomes and access for patients from diagnosis through survivorship care. Oncologists practicing in rural areas often have difficulties coordinating care with geographically distant providers and limited availability. This is made worse by known workforce gaps. I'm happy to welcome two guests today to discuss new research highlighting how specialist scarcity is felt by oncologists…

People in this episode

Hosts: Fumiko, Chino, Fumiko Chino

Guests: Dr. Dan Zuckerman, Dr. Erika Moen

Topics covered

• oncology
• rural health
• specialty care
• healthcare access
• qualitative research

Keywords

• specialist scarcity
• rural environments
• oncologists
• care delivery
• qualitative study

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Understaffed and Overbooked: The Problems with Maintaining Specialty Care, Rural Oncologists' Perceptions of Specialty Scarcity and Repercussions for Care Delivery: A Qualitative Study, Put Into Practice

Places: Boise, Idaho

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