LANSING- -There are special circumstances that add to the cost of health care in rural communities.

The remoteness of places like Clare are rural make it difficult to keep up with the biggest drivers of health care costs: pharmaceuticals, staffing and technology, experts say.

 “We’re having to pay higher dollar amounts for quality services,” said Ray Stover, controller of Mid Michigan Health Center in Clare. “Medical equipment needs to be upgraded to be fair to our patients.”

Pharmaceuticals, said Rep. Tim Moore, R-Farwell, are the number-one driver of rising health costs, followed by the expense of keeping up with technology and retaining staff.

Due to general costs, a significant portion, about 43 percent, of Clare County now receive federal health care assistance, officials say.

Verna Davis, case coordinator for Clare County’s Council on Aging, said there are approximately 25 percent of the county’s population receiving Medicare.

And, Howard Sweeney of the Clare County Department of Human Services said about 18 percent of residents are on Medicaid.

“There are fewer assistance programs in rural areas,” Davis said. “We have no health maintenance organizations in Clare so people have to go to Alma if they have HMOs.”

Davis also said it’s difficult to keep doctors in rural communities.

 “Doctors are always changing, we’ve had a lot of them go into the bigger cities,” Davis said.

Having new doctors every three or four years increase the cost of health care, she said.

“A lot of doctors come and go,” Davis said. “When your doctor changes, you have to go through diagnostic tests again.”

Stover said the hospital typically has to pay more them more to keep quality staff.

“There are no concrete solutions to reducing costs,” Moore said. “We’re just making sure to get the dialogue going to address the issue.”

The first of a series of roundtable discussions of the drivers of health care costs were held at Mid Michigan Medical Center in Clare on Nov. 28 was the first of many that examine the cases of health care costs in Michigan’s rural communities.

Moore campaigned to have his district host one of the discussions that was originally proposed by Kevin Green, R-Wyoming.

“Our district being on the poor side has an extremely high need for health care assistance,” Moore said.