Maps of Health Care Professional Shortage Areas

The federal Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designation identifies medically under served areas eligible for several federal programs. These include scholarship and loan repayment programs through the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), Rural Health Clinic reimbursement, Medicare incentive payments for physicians, higher "customary charges" for new physicians, special consideration and funding priority for Area Health Education Centers (AHECs), and funding preference for Public Health Service programs administered by the Bureau of Health Professions. In Kansas, the growth of HPSAs in the last several years has been used in particular to attract health care professionals to underserved areas in exchange for loan repayment.

There are different HPSA designations for different types of health professionals. They include a designation for Primary Care Professionals, a designation for Dental Health Professionals, and a designation for Mental Health Professionals.


Click here to contact the BLRH staff member responsible for this program.