Rural residents have traditionally received fewer essential health care services than their urban counterparts because of lack of coherent health care policy, institutional and regulatory impediments, and the special costs of delivering health care in a rural setting. Lack of adequate health services affects all rural residents, including children. With this in mind, health care providers, insurance representatives, state legislators, health care associations, and State Health Department and Social Services Department staffs convened a symposium in order to identify the key issues and outline a framework for improving health care policy and services for rural New Yorkers. This report contains highlights of four separate workshop discussions with the specific recommendations made by each group. All four workshop groups independently arrived at similar conclusions and recommendations about state policy, regulations and codes, communication and representation, joint ventures, research, finance, and personnel. Workshops recommended stimulating recruitment and retention of health care workers, providing more administrative backup, improving financial support, and providing dollar incentives in terms of taxes, insurance, and education. The report also describes the conerence setting history, and opening session, and contains a list of conference participants, resource contacts, and abstracts of the white papers prepared for the symposium. (DHP)