IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (AP) - About 90 percent of Idaho qualifies as a "health professional shortage area," according to federal guidelines.

But getting medical doctors to move to rural areas for low pay and long hours has been a challenge.

To help get around that problem, the state Office of Rural Health gives out $220,000 a year in grants and helps hospitals get federal money to improve medical care in rural areas.

So far, Rural Health has helped 29 clinicians - doctors, dentists, and nurses - in the state with direct grants. Rural Health also has helped rural medical facilities bring in 53 clinicians with grant applications, some of which help repay student loans.

That means people living in rural areas have better access to medical care.

"Absolutely," Mary Sheridan, supervisor with Rural Health, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Oftentimes, people go without care or travel great distances."

One place that Rural Health helped land a doctor was the Teton Valley Hospital and Surgicenter in the eastern Idaho town of Driggs.

The hospital used a $43,000 rural business grant to help Dr. Rob Wolfe set up a practice at the Victor Medical Clinic. Wolfe became the third family practitioner on the staff at the hospital.

"It took a year of actively seeking a physician to find someone who would come to a small town and enjoy the amenities," Ann Loyola, Teton Valley Hospital marketing director, told the Post Register.

"(Rural medicine) is a totally different philosophy from what most people are pushed into in med school," said Wolfe, noting most doctors look to specialize in some area of medicine. "A lot are like, 'Oh, you'll do family practice? What a waste."'

Wolfe said part of his inspiration to work in a rural area was attending the funeral of his grandfather, who worked as a doctor in a Wisconsin farming town.

"There were thousands of people coming in and they said, 'You don't know what he did for me,' and 'He delivered me,' and 'He delivered my kids,"' Wolfe said. "It struck me that you can make a big impact on people's lives."

But specialists tend to make more money than a family doctor, and graduates often have student loan debts of up to $200,000.

"Financially, there's a huge difference between specializing and going the rural route," Wolfe said. "But I feel that from the quality of life that I want, money isn't a huge issue."

Wolfe qualifies for loan repayment programs for rural doctors, and has applied for one from the National Health Service Corps. The corps works to recruit and retain doctors in rural areas, and can repay up to $50,000 in loans for doctors who work at least two years in an underserved area.

Information from: Post Register, http://www.idahonews.com