Health Professional Shortage Areas – All

Source Description

Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) are designated by the US Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as having shortages of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers. HPSAs may refer to an entire geographic area (a county or service area), a demographic group within a geographic area (low income population) or an institution (comprehensive health center, federally qualified health center or other public facility).

HPSAs are designated using several criteria, depending on the type of designation. For example, a HPSA may be designated on the basis that medical professionals in contiguous areas are over-utilized, excessively distant, or inaccessible to the population under consideration. HPSAs are also designated based on population-to-clinician ratios. This ratio is usually 3,500 to 1 for primary care, 5,000 to 1 for dental health care, and 30,000 to 1 for mental health care. All Federally Qualified Health Centers and Rural Health Clinics that provide access to care, regardless of patient ability to pay, receive automatic facility HPSA designation.

HPSAs are updated on a continuous basis through the US Health and Humans Services (HHS) Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) GIS data warehouse. For more information about HPSAs, please visit the HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) web page.