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Proposed Rule: Instead of issuing a final regulation as the next step, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will issue a new Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for further review and public comment prior to issuing a final rule. ( Federal Register Notice, 7-23-2008) |
The Health Resources and Services Administration Shortage Designation Branch develops shortage
designation criteria and uses them to decide whether or not a geographic area,
population group or facility is a Health Professional Shortage Area or a Medically Underserved Area or Population.
Health Professional Shortage Areas |
HPSAs may be designated as having a shortage of primary medical care, dental or mental health providers. They may be urban or rural areas, population groups or medical or other public
facilities.
As of June 30, 2008, there are:
- 5,987 Primary Care HPSAs with 63 million people living in them. Collectively, it would take 16,261 practitioners to meet their need for primary care providers (a population to practitioner ratio of 2,000:1).
- 3,951 Dental HPSAs with 47 million people living in them. Collectively, it would take 9,321 practitioners to meet their need for dental providers (a population to practitioner ratio of 3,000:1).
- 2,947 Mental Health HPSAs with 76 million people living in them. It would take 5,081 practitioners to meet their need for mental health providers (a population to practitioner ratio of 10,000:1).
Medically Underserved Areas/Populations |
Medically Underserved Areas (MUA) may be
a whole county or a group of contiguous counties, a group of county or civil
divisions or a group of urban census tracts in which residents have a shortage
of personal health services.
Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs)
may include groups of persons who face economic, cultural or linguistic barriers
to health care.
Contact: sdb@hrsa.gov
or 1-888-275-4772. Press option 1, then option 2
Page last updated: July 30, 2008
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