Medically underserved areas & HPSA profile

Medically Underserved Areas in Guam

1 Medically Underserved Areas and 12 active HRSA Health Professional Shortage Area designations across Guam.

MUAs
1
Total HPSAs
12
Primary care
4
Mental health
4
Dental
4

Upper-middle density verdict

Within HRSA's current state and territory corpus, Guam occupies the upper-middle density quarter. The Data Warehouse counts 12 active shortage designations across 1 counties; Guam County has the largest county count at 12; about 100.0% of residents live in a geographic shortage county.

12
Active HPSA designations
4
Primary-care shortages
1
Medically underserved areas
100.0%
Residents in a shortage county

Key findings

What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Guam on its own pages , computed from the retained designation mirror as of 2026-08-15. Each line carries its own denominator so it can be quoted as it stands.

  1. Guam County holds 100% of Guam's 12 active designations (12 of 12).

    1 of 1 counties in this profile carry at least one active record; the remainder are zero-active on this release.

  2. 33.3% of Guam's active designations are primary care.

    Discipline mix from state aggregates: 4 primary care, 4 mental health, 4 dental (denominator 12).

  3. Closing Guam's active designations would take about 28 additional clinician FTEs, led by dental.

    HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id across the state: 4.6 primary care, 5.4 mental health, 18 dental. Federal gap estimate, not a practising-clinician headcount.

Corpus placement

Where Guam sits among all 56 states and territories

Guam carries 12 active HPSA designations for a population of 153,836, which is 7.8 per 100,000 residents, ranking it 28 of 56 and above 50% of states and territories, against a median of 7.3.

1 of those are county-wide geographic designations; the remainder are facility-, population- or clinic-based, which is why the county map and the designation count answer different questions.

Designation density tracks rural geography as much as unmet need: AK records 134.7 designations per 100,000 residents and NJ 1.5, because a sparsely-settled state accumulates more separate designations to cover the same population. Designations also overlap, so this counts designations, not people. Counted as distinct HRSA designation IDs, the same unit as the totals above. Computed from the designation records and county populations behind this page; states without county population data are given no placement rather than an estimated one.

Snapshot comparison

Change since the previous HRSA snapshot

Between Jun 2, 2026 and Jul 25, 2026, the number of active stable HPSA IDs recorded for Guam changed from 12 to 12 (0).

IDs added
0
IDs absent now
0
Newly designated
0
No longer designated
0

Among IDs present in both snapshots, scores rose for 0 and fell for 0; recorded providers needed rose for 0 and fell for 0. These are changes in published designation records, not evidence of cause, care quality, or patient outcomes. See the national comparison and limitations.

Medically Underserved Areas
1
Residents in Geographic Shortage Areas
153,836
% Residents in Geographic Shortage
100.0%

HRSA Counties Indexed

1

with HPSA / MUA coverage

Discipline Mix

4 / 4 / 4 PC/MH/D

Primary care · Mental health · Dental

% Residents in Geographic Shortage-Designated Counties 100.0%

Guam Shortage Designations by Care Type

How Guam's 12 active HRSA designations split across the three provider categories. According to KFF's May 2026 tracker, Guam has not adopted ACA Medicaid expansion. That policy context does not measure provider supply, appointment availability, or care quality.

Guam HPSA designations by type

Active Health Professional Shortage Area designations, by provider category.

designations
Source HRSA Data Warehouse, designated HPSAs As of 2026

Guam HPSA Counties by Care Type

County lists for the three HRSA shortage disciplines searchers ask for by name (dental, primary care, mental health). Counts are live designated-HPSA records in this release, not provider headcounts.

Dental HPSA counties in Guam

1 counties with at least one active dental designation ; led by Guam (4). Full list (designation count in parentheses): Guam (4) .

Primary-care HPSA counties in Guam

1 counties with at least one active primary-care designation ; led by Guam (4). Full list: Guam (4) .

Mental-health HPSA counties in Guam

1 counties with at least one active mental-health designation ; led by Guam (4). Full list: Guam (4) .

All counties in Guam, by total shortage volume

All 1Guam counties, ranked by active HPSA designations across primary care, mental health, and dental. On a narrow screen, this list keeps each county’s total and MUA status visible; the care-type split is available on wider screens.

#CountyDesignationsMUA
1Guam12MUA

Medically Underserved Areas in Guam

All 1 MUA designations in Guam, lowest MUA Index first.

Name MUA Index
Guam 61.1

Upper-middle density reading for Guam

Guam carries 12 active HPSA designations with 1 Medically Underserved Area, enough for a formal shortage footprint without landing in the densest US tier. Compare the three discipline counts (4/4/4) before assuming every care category is equally short.

Geographic shortage counties cover about 100.0% of residents. That coverage signal routes federal recruitment dollars; it is not a service-denial verdict for any one household.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Medically Underserved Areas are in Guam?
Guam has 1 Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs). About 153,836 residents (100.0% of the state) live in a county with a geographic HRSA shortage designation. MUA-designated areas qualify for enhanced federal funding and Community Health Center grants.
Which counties in Guam have dental HPSA designations?
1 Guam counties carry at least one active dental Health Professional Shortage Area in the current HRSA release: Guam (4). Counts are designated dental HPSA records per county, not a dentist headcount.
Are there doctor shortages in Guam?
Yes. Guam has 12 Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs), including 4 in primary care, 4 in mental health, and 4 in dental care. About 100.0% of Guam residents live in a county that HRSA has designated as a geographic (whole-community) shortage area; additional residents are covered by population-group and facility designations counted separately.
What are HPSAs?
Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) are federal designations by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) identifying communities with insufficient healthcare providers. HPSAs are categorized into three types: primary care, mental health, and dental. In Guam, there are 12 designated HPSAs and 1 Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs).

Source: HRSA Data Warehouse Not affiliated with HRSA

Choose the next comparison

Use Guam's designation totals as a starting point, then move to the comparison that answers the next decision without treating a shortage designation as a personal care outcome.

  • Compare Guam's primary-care shortage record with every other state before drawing conclusions from a raw total; population and geography affect designation counts. Compare states
  • Guam County has the most active HPSA designations in this state profile. Open its county record to inspect the local primary-care, mental-health, and dental breakdown. Open county profile
  • Use the national statistics reference for the source vintage, aggregate context, and methodology behind these state-level figures. Read national context

HRSA designations describe structural provider-shortage criteria and federal-program eligibility. They do not measure appointment availability, insurance coverage, care quality, or an individual patient’s access to care.

Verify with U.S. Census Bureau →

Verify with CMS →

Every figure on PlainHealthAccess is rendered directly from HRSA source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page aggregates every county-level HPSA and MUA designation on record for Guam (GU) and ranks the state's per-capita designation density among all states and territories. Designations describe federal shortage criteria, not appointment availability or care quality for any person. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, review the public data changelog, or report a data issue for this page. Data current as of 2026.