An HPSA is a geographic area, population group, or facility designated by HRSA as having an insufficient supply of healthcare providers. There are three types: primary care HPSAs (for physician shortages), mental health HPSAs (for mental health provider shortages), and dental HPSAs (for dentist shortages). A location can have multiple HPSA designations simultaneously.

HPSA scores measure shortage severity on a scale from 0 to 25 for primary care and mental health, and 0 to 26 for dental. Higher scores indicate greater need. The score is used by HRSA to prioritize National Health Service Corps (NHSC) placements and to determine eligibility for various federal incentive programs for healthcare providers.

An MUA is a geographic area designated by HRSA using the Index of Medical Underservice (IMU), a composite score based on the ratio of primary care physicians to population, infant mortality rate, percentage of population below the poverty level, and percentage of population age 65 or older. Areas with an IMU score of 62 or less qualify for MUA designation.

PlainHealthAccess maps HPSA and MUA designations across 3,291 counties in all 50 states and US territories. Many counties have multiple designations, for example, a county might have both a primary care HPSA and a mental health HPSA.

HPSA designations are issued separately for each provider type (primary care, mental health, dental) and each designation type (geographic, population-group, facility). A single county can have several active designations covering different provider shortages or different population groups within the county.

NHSC loan repayment eligibility requires working in an HPSA site. The primary care HPSA score determines the award amount, higher-scored sites receive larger awards. PlainHealthAccess shows HPSA designations and scores, but for current NHSC program requirements, always verify with the NHSC directly at nhsc.hrsa.gov.

No. PlainHealthAccess is not affiliated with HRSA, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or any government agency. We are an independent data portal providing public HRSA data in a more accessible format. For official HPSA searches, use HRSA's HPSA Finder at data.hrsa.gov.