Medically Underserved Area Mono-discipline · mental health

TN · Healthcare shortage profile

Blount County, TN

The clinician FTE gap is the sharpest number here: closing Blount County's active designations would take about 22 additional FTEs on HRSA's providers_needed estimate. Population 135,280.

Active HPSAs
1
Population
135,280
Peak shortage score
16.0
MUA Index
61.9

Light-burden verdict

According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, Blount County carries a comparatively light shortage burden - 1 active HPSA designation, more than 2% of the 3,289 real US counties, with mental health the deepest gap.

1
Active HPSA designations
1
Mental-health shortages
16
Peak severity score (of 26)
Top 98%
US counties by volume

Key findings

What the HRSA Data Warehouse does not surface for Blount County, TN 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. Closing Blount County's active designations would take about 22 additional clinician FTEs, with mental health the largest gap.

    HRSA providers_needed summed once per HPSA id (no double-count across status rows): 22 mental health. This is the federal gap estimate, not a headcount of practising clinicians.

  2. 100% of Blount County's 1 active designations are mental health.

    Discipline mix from designated HPSA records only: 0 primary care, 1 mental health, 0 dental (denominator 1).

  3. Peak HPSA score 16.0 sits below HRSA's 17-point high-priority line.

    Below-17 designations still count as shortages for program geography, but they do not clear the high-priority NHSC placement threshold on this release.

Blount County's mid-pack ZIP footprint

13 Census ZCTAs intersect Blount County, between the 9 and 15 ZIP cuts across published counties: neither a postage-stamp footprint nor a metro-scale lattice.

Largest land-share ZCTAs

5 additional ZCTAs intersect this county in the crosswalk (ordered by land share).

Source: Census ZCTA–county relationship file joined to this portal's county FIPS set. As of 2026-08-15.

Corpus placement

Designated volume without a high-priority score

According to current HRSA Data Warehouse records, Blount County carries 1 active designation, above 2% of real US counties. None of those scores clear HRSA's high-priority line of 17 on this release, so the page leads with severity reading rather than a national distribution chart.

State peer position. Blount County falls in the lower half of TN counties by active-designation volume, at rank 87 of 95. Ties share a rank.

Computed from current designated HPSA rows for every five-digit county FIPS. See the placement methodology.

Healthcare shortage designations from HRSA. FIPS: 47009. Population: 135,280.

Medically Underserved Area

MUA Designated
MUA Index: 61.9

Active HPSA scores

Mental Health 16.0

Current designated records only · mental health only on this FIPS. Scores range 0–25 (primary/mental health), 0–26 (dental). Higher = greater need. What counts as a high score?

Highest-severity HPSA designations

All 1 active (designated) HPSAs in Blount County, ranked by HRSA shortage score.

Name Type Score
LI-Mhca 8 mental_health 16.0

Light-burden reading for Blount County

The clinician FTE gap is the sharpest number here: closing Blount County's active designations would take about 22 additional FTEs on HRSA's providers_needed estimate. Blount County's severest measured gap is in mental health, scored 16.0 of 25, still short of the 17-point priority line, though the designation itself is formal. The county also sits inside a Medically Underserved Area, indexed at 61.9, and the lower the index, the greater the measured need.

Blount County carries 1 active designation and sits below the national mid-pack (above 2% of counties). A light footprint still matters: a single high-score dental or mental-health record can open program geography even when the county total looks small next to heavy peers.

Blount County falls in the lower half of TN counties by active-designation volume, at rank 87 of 95. Read the active scores and the deepest-care guide link below before collapsing this county into a "no shortage" story.

Counties with a matching designation count to Blount County's 1

One peer set for this FTE-led county: nearest active designation count to 1 - the inventory behind the ~22 FTE published need.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Blount County's MUA standing sit beside its HPSA records?
Yes - Blount County carries an MUA designation (index 61.9; lower = greater measured need) in addition to its HPSA rows. MUA and HPSA are separate HRSA tracks; both can open different federal pathways.
Where is the largest clinician FTE gap inside Blount County?
Id-de-duped providers_needed across active HPSAs totals ~22 FTE, with mental health the largest slice (22). "LI-MHCA 8" is the highest-scored active row (score 16.0; mental health; 100,208 people in the service area; ~22 FTE still needed on the record; designated 02/01/2022). This is HRSA's published gap, not a headcount of practising clinicians.
Which named designations drive Blount County's FTE reading?
Active names on this release include "LI-MHCA 8". Discipline counts: 0 primary care, 1 mental health, 0 dental across 1 designated rows.

Source: HRSA Data Warehouse. FIPS: 47009. This county’s designations come from BCD_HPSA_FCT_DET_MH.csv (mental health) — download the normalized export on our open data page. PlainHealthAccess is not affiliated with HRSA or any government agency.

HRSA Data Warehouse HPSA + MUA/P records for FIPS 47009 (Blount County, TN), vintage 2026-08-15. Active designation count 1; peak score 16.0; signature 22 FTE gap. This profile is reference material, not professional advice; see methodology.