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H H S Department of Health and Human Services
Health Resources and Services Administration
Health Professions

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Shortage Designation: Health Professional Shortage Areas & Medically Underserved Areas/Populations

HRSA 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.

Find a Shortage Area

Find HPSAs, MUAs and MUPs by County, State, Zip code, etc.


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 December 27, 2012, there are:

  • 5,848 Primary Care HPSAs with 56.8 million people living in them. It would take 15,928 practitioners to meet their need for primary care providers (a population to practitioner ratio of 2,000:1).
  • 4,585 Dental HPSAs with 45 million people living in them. It would take 9,060 practitioners to meet their need for dental providers (a population to practitioner ratio of 3,000:1).
  • 3,802 Mental Health HPSAs with 90.6 million people living in them. It would take 6,058 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 (MUAs) 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

Is this a Health Professional Shortage Area or Medically Underserved Population

Learn More
Frequently Asked Questions
Programs

These programs benefit Shortage Areas:

Health Center Program grants to providers in underserved areas

Rural Health Clinic Program cost-based reimbursement from Medicare and Medicaid

Medicare HPSA Bonus Payment for physicians

National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment and Scholarship Programs for primary care health professionals and students

Indian Health Service Scholarship Program for health professions students

Exchange Visitor Program for foreign physicians with J-1 visas working in shortage areas

Conrad State 30 Program Exit Disclaimer allows States 30 J-1 visa waivers each year in exchange for service in a shortage area