Doctors are leaving rural communities across the country at alarming rates.

A study published by Avalere and Physicians Advocacy Institute, a nonprofit healthcare professional advocacy group, earlier this year reported that between Jan. 1, 2019 and Jan. 24, 2024 rural areas lost 2,500 physicians and nearly 3,300 medical practices closed. Patients had access to 11% fewer medical practices overall and the number of independent doctors in rural communities declined by 43% during the study.

Gallup, New Mexico, a small city of about 20,000, sits near the Arizona border and is flanked by tribal lands. Two doctors, Lawrence Andrade and his wife Aedra Andrade, who recently left Gallup, took out a full-page ad in the local paper to thank their community for its support and to apologize for leaving.

(Originally published by KNPR, September 12, 2025)