Interventional radiologists have a unique ability to bridge the gaps in access to care for rural communities. This rural health day, hear from some of the IRs who are navigating the challenges of this practice model, while providing life-saving care to their patients.
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The unexpected locum
Mark H. Knelson, MD, thought his IR career had come to an early end—until he discovered locum tenens work, and became involved in expanding IR access to an underserved community.
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Episode 70: Call and work coverage with Elizabeth A. Ignacio, MD, FSIR
In this episode, host Mark L. Lessne, MD, FSIR, speaks with Elizabeth A. Ignacio, MD, FSIR, on how she handles working in a small and rural practice in Hawaii, lessons she learned while paving her own path and how she created an IR LLC.
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The lone IR
In a time of hospital closures, burnout and workforce shortages, it is commonplace for interventional radiology departments to be overburdened and understaffed. But what happens when you’re the only radiologist left in your entire hospital system?
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Episode 66: Collaborative care in small and rural practice
Rajshree Singh, MD, speaks with Ezana M. Azene, MD, PhD, about small and rural IR practices, why so many are closing and what the specialty can do to keep IR services available in the areas that need it most.
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Episode 65: Small and rural IR practices with Dana Dunleavy, MD
Ezana M. Azene, MD, PhD, speaks with J. Dana Dunleavy, MD, about the triumphs and tribulations of small and rural IR practices.
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The next IR frontier
IRs have an opportunity to fill an as-yet unmet need: providing care to rural, small and medically underserved areas. By utilizing new practice paradigms and technologies, IRs may be able to bring life-saving care to whole new populations.
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A workforce in crisis
Hawaii is facing a healthcare workforce crisis—one that’s deepening existing disparities and impacting the health of the state’s inhabitants.
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Crossing the IR desert
When I started my career in Charleston, West Virginia, I was the only interventional radiologist in a community of 50,000 people. I was already somewhat familiar with the challenges faced by patients in remote communities, having previously worked...
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Interventional radiology comes home
Across a 30-mile radius in rural northwest Indiana, more than 1,000 patients with multiple chronic conditions are confined to their homes or to nursing facilities and encounter difficulty receiving care they need for their chronic conditions.

