Mail-order medicine; An analysis of the Sears Roebuck Foundation's Community Medical Assistance Program.

Of the 625 rural communities that originally applied to the Sears Roebuck Foundation's Community Medical Assistance Program, 253 were accepted. One hundred sixty-three went on to build clinics, and 132 had physicians at the time of follow-up. From the standpoint of physician coverage of the community once a clinic had been built, the rate of physician availability was 78 percent, The communities' success in recruiting and retaining physicians was compared against 13 variables; none was significantly related to the recruitment, and only two--numbers of service clubs and distance to nearest physician--were related to retention.