Healthcare Shortage Guides
In-depth guides to understanding federal healthcare shortage designations and their impact. Each one draws on HRSA's Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) and Medically Underserved Area data. We explain what the designations mean, how a county earns one, and why the gaps persist. Start with whichever question brought you here.
Understanding Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)
What HPSAs are, how HRSA designates them, and why they matter for healthcare access across the United States.
The Impact of Healthcare Deserts on Communities
How living in a healthcare shortage area affects health outcomes, costs, mortality rates, and quality of life for millions of Americans.
The Mental Health Provider Shortage: What the Data Shows
More than 160 million Americans live in mental health shortage areas. The causes, scale, and who is most affected.
How to Find Healthcare in a Shortage Area
Practical steps for finding primary care, dental, and mental health services when providers are scarce in your community.
The Dental Care Shortage in America
Why dental access is uniquely difficult, who bears the burden, and how communities are working to close the gap.
Rural Healthcare Access: Why Geography Determines Medical Care
Rural Americans face longer travel, fewer providers, and more hospital closures. What HRSA shortage data reveals about the rural gap.
The US Primary Care Shortage: What HRSA Data Reveals
Over 100 million Americans live in primary care shortage areas. What drives the shortage and what it means for patients.
How are these guides researched and sourced?
Our guides draw on public data from HRSA — the Health Resources and Services Administration — and its Data Warehouse. Every figure is sourced. Statistics, shortage designations, and provider ratios come directly from those datasets, referenced inline.
The aim is plain language. We translate dense federal health data into explanations a general reader can act on, and when methodologies differ between sources or change over time, we flag the variation where it appears. Our editorial process includes regular reviews to keep figures accurate and current.