Physicians, 2002

Aside from the distinct cluster of physicians around Rochester (165 full time equivalents [FTEs] in Olmsted and 163 FTEs in Dodge), physicians are concentrated in counties with large hospitals—but not necessarily large cities. The Twin Cities and Duluth rank high as well as Blue Earth (Mankato), Stearns (St. Cloud), Kandiyohi (Willmar) and Pennington County (Thief River Falls). On the other hand, a shortage of physicians is also apparent. Some are explainable: the very lowest numbers appear in counties that are adjacent to a county with a large facility, such as Sherburne and Benton County (St. Cloud), Filllmore County (Rochester), Houston County (La Crosse), and Clay County (Fargo). However, moving farther west and north there is a distinct drop-off in physicians in many rural counties. Most counties in western Minnesota reported physician FTEs well below the state average of 22.5.