Evidence shows that those living in rural communities experience consistently worse health outcomes than their urban and suburban counterparts. One proven strategy to address this disparity is to increase the physician supply in rural areas through graduate medical education (GME) training. However, rural hospitals have faced challenges developing training programs in these underserved areas, largely due to inadequate federal funding for rural GME. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (CAA) contains multiple provisions that seek to address disparities in Medicare funding for rural GME, including funding for an increase in rural GME positions or "slots" (Section 126), expansion of rural training opportunities (Section 127), and relief for hospitals that have very low resident payments and/or caps (Section 131). In this Invited Commentary, the authors describe historical factors that have impeded the growth of training programs in rural areas, summarize the implications of each CAA provision for rural GME, and provide guidance for institutions seeking to avail themselves of the opportunities presented by the CAA. These policy changes create new opportunities for rural hospitals and partnering urban medical centers to bolster rural GME training, and consequently the physician workforce in underserved communities.

Evidence indicates an increasing shortage of dentists in communities across the United States with potentially significant implications for oral health, as well as overall health and well-being. One strategy to increase access to dental care in rural and underserved communities is community-based postgraduate dental training. However, developing new dental programs requires navigating complex accreditation, financial and community governance, among other, barriers. The Roadmap for Teaching Health Center Dental Program Development presents a framework that guides institutions through the successive steps of developing new postgraduate training programs from identification of need to ultimate maintenance and sustainability. The tool assists programs in anticipating and understanding requirements, reducing time, expense, and uncertainty. While the framework was developed for community-based programs, the steps are applicable to postgraduate programs sponsored by academic institutions as well.

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