Essex County, MA

What the HRSA Data Shows for Essex County

Essex County, MA — population 809,829 carries 12 active Health Professional Shortage Area designations in the HRSA Data Warehouse: 5 in primary care, 4 in mental health, and 3 in dental. The county is also flagged as a Medically Underserved Area, scoring 53.9 on the MUA Index (lower scores indicate greater need). These three HPSA categories are evaluated independently by HRSA, so a county can show heavy pressure on one axis — for example mental-health access — while remaining closer to the provider ratio threshold for primary care.

The county's highest shortage-severity score across the three categories is 23.0, which crosses the 17-point threshold HRSA uses to flag high-priority shortage areas eligible for National Health Service Corps placement and enhanced Medicare reimbursement. Primary-care scoring reached 21.0 (0–25 scale). Mental-health scoring reached 22.0 (0–25 scale). Dental scoring reached 23.0 (0–26 scale). HPSA scores weight the provider-to-population ratio, poverty rate, travel time to the nearest source of care, and — for dental — water fluoridation status. They are recalculated as HRSA updates its quarterly designation cycle.

HRSA lists 12 active (designated) HPSA records tied to Essex County, covering the specific facilities, geographies, and population groups that received the designation; the table above shows the most severe. This designation data is the basis for more than thirty federal programs — loan repayment through the National Health Service Corps, Medicare bonus payments, Community Health Center grants, and J-1 visa waivers — which together channel billions of dollars annually to recruit providers into HPSAs. These figures describe structural access to care only; they are not a substitute for medical advice, and patients searching for a specific appointment should contact a provider directly or consult their insurance network.