Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (MHPSA):

MHPSAs are communities within a State that are federally

recognized as having a shortage of mental health providers

(i.e. Psychiatrists, Core Mental Health Providers) to treat the

population of that area

A provider survey is conducted to demonstrate the shortage

There are two types of MHPSA designations:

• Geographic MHPSA- a shortage of providers for the civilian population

of the area

• Low-income MHPSA- a shortage of providers for the population at

200% poverty which can include the homeless and migrant

farmworkers, living in the proposed areaV-1

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.)

Criteria for MHPSA:Geographic Area

A rational service area – Medical Service Study Area

> 30,000:1 psychiatrists, or

> 9,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists, or

> 6,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists and > 20,000:1psychiatrists

V-2

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.)

Criteria for MHPSA:

Geographic Area w/Unusually High Needs

A rational service area plus one of the following:a) 20% or more of the population is < 100 % of the poverty level, or

b) The youth ratio (# of persons < 18 to the # of adults ages 18 - 64) is greater than 0.6, or

c) The elderly ratio (# of persons > 65 to the # of adults ages 18 - 64) is greater than 0.25, or

d) Alcohol or substance abuse prevalence data showing the area to be in the worst quartile of the region

> 20,000:1 psychiatrists, or

> 6,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists, or

> 4,500:1 CMHP including psychiatrists and > 15,000:1 psychiatrists

V-3

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.)

V-4

Criteria for MHPSA:

Low Income (Population)

Number of individuals in the service area that are at or below 200% of the Federal poverty level

Must be >30% of the population in the service area

> 20,000:1 psychiatrists, or

> 6,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists, or

> 4,500:1 CMHP including psychiatrists and > 15,000:1 psychiatrists

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.)

V-5

Additional Criteria for MHPSA:

The service area must be isolated, no other contiguous service areas within

a 40 minute travel polygon can treat the population of the proposed area

The contiguous areas can be ruled out through evidence having barriers of

access for themselves or the population of the service area such as:

disparities in socio-economic or demographic data, the contiguous area is

over utilized for providers (>20,000:1 ratio), the nearest provider outside of

the service area is greater than 40 minutes away, or if the contiguous area

itself is a MHPSA

The greater the distance of the nearest source of care outside the proposed

service area the higher the MHPSA score which demonstrates the greater

need for providers

Alcohol and substance abuse prevalence is accounted for to increase the

MHPSA score

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.)

V-6

Useful Links:

http://www.hrsa.gov/shortage/ - Federal shortage

designation branch website

http://hpsafind.hrsa.gov/ - Federal shortage designation

search page

http://oshpd.ca.gov/HWDD/Shortage_Designation_Prog.html

- OSHPD Shortage Designation Program

http://oshpd.ca.gov/HWDD/Application_Process.html - Shortage Designation resource page