A comprehensive medical education program response to rural primary care needs.

This article presents the characteristics and results of the Rural Medical Education (RMED) Program which addresses medical workforce needs focused on reducing rural health disparities. The program is comprehensive in implementing a system of recruitment of candidates from rural backgrounds, offering a rural-focused curriculum, and instituting evaluative components to track outcomes. Distinctive program features include a Recruitment and Retention Committee of rural community members; special rural-focused topics and events during the first three years of undergraduate medical education; and a required fourth-year, 16-week rural preceptorship through which students work with primary care physicians and conduct community-oriented primary care projects.