The reasons for the outflow of population from rural areas lie in the poorly developed socio-cultural and communal infrastructure of settlements, including the inability to receive affordable and high-quality medical care, which in turn leads to a high level of chronic morbidity and premature mortality of the rural population. The formation of an affordable and high-quality health care system in rural areas is the key to the socio-economic development of rural settlements. The purpose of the article is to identify effective tools for organizing primary medical and social care for rural populations. The scientific novelty of the study is to substantiate the crucial role of the organization of affordable high-quality medical and social assistance to the rural population in the system of sustainable development of agricultural territories. The authors consider modern methodological approaches to the organization of primary medical care in order to improve the quality of life of the rural population in the Sverdlovsk region. The article reflects the need to reorganize domestic healthcare in the direction of focusing on the preventive orientation of the therapeutic and diagnostic process, as well as on the early detection of severe forms of diseases, which is associated with providing high-quality, affordable medical care to the rural population. During the analysis of information and analytical material reflecting the activities of primary health care, the authors identified positive and negative trends in its development within a single subject of the Russian Federation.