Louisiana is likely to prioritize digitizing medical records and tuition forgiveness for rural health care practitioners in its application for a piece of the new $50 billion federal rural health care fund. It would allow for more analysis of health care services and conditions across rural communities, he added. Digitizing records as well as recruiting rural health care practitioners are concerns. Rural health care providers rely heavily on Medicaid, which provides health insurance to people who are poor or disabled. They have higher rates of heart disease, obesity and diabetes, plus they are more likely to smoke cigarettes, according to the state health department.