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Gibbons proposes incentive to lure doctors to rural area

Kirsten Searer

Friday, July 8, 2005 | 8:45 a.m.

Rep. Jim Gibbons announced a proposal Thursday that would give $20,000 tax credit to doctors who settle in rural areas of Nevada.

The state's average of 161 doctors per 100,000 residents is far below the national average.

Gibbons argued that it's especially bad in rural Nevada, where sometimes only one doctor can be found within 400 or 500 square miles, he said.

Plus, doctors in rural areas tend to move so quickly that patients can't form relationships with them, Gibbons said.

Nevada ranked 47th in the nation in the number of doctors per 100,000 residents in 2002.

The bill, which Gibbons said he plans to push in the upcoming congressional session, would give the tax credit to any physician who handles at least 350 Medicare patient visits within a two-year period.

It would apply to doctors in any rural area of the country, but Gibbons said he doesn't have an estimate yet on how much the initiative would cost.

"I can't imagine that it isn't worth the cost," he said.

Gibbons also said at the news conference that he welcomes the entrance of state Sen. Bob Beers into the Republican gubernatorial primary in 2006.

Gibbons has not yet announced his candidacy but is expected to later this summer.

Lt. Gov. Lorraine Hunt also has expressed interest in the Republican primary.

Gibbons said he's not worried that Beers, a fellow fiscal conservative, would erode at his base of supporters.

"It just tells me that a lot of people in Nevada share a similar view," he said.

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