| Shortage Designation - Overview |
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Federal Health Professional Shortage Area
The federal Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA)
designation identifies medically underserved 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 under served 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. PRIMARY CARE HPSAs - Qualifying Criteria &
Benefits
To be designated as a primary care HPSA, an
area must meet three criteria. It must:
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1. Be a rational service area for the delivery of care, and
2. Have a lack of access to health care in surrounding areas because
of distance,
over utilization, or access barriers, and
3. Have either one physician for every 3,500 or more people (3500:1)
OR
one physician for 3,000 to 3,499 people (3499:1 to 3000: 1)
PLUS
population features demonstrating "unusually high need" or evidence that the physicians and health care system is overloaded.
Areas designated as geographic primary care HPSAs receive improved Medicare reimbursement for providers, are eligible to establish or retain Rural Health Clinics, and are eligible for J-1 visa physician placement and health personnel recruitment assistance from the National Health Service Corps.
Physicians in primary care geographic HPSAs are automatically eligible for a 10% increase in their Medicare reimbursement. Physician assistants practicing in primary care geographic HPSAs are Medicare-reimbursable, as are nurse practitioners practicing in rural primary care geographic HPSAs
The recruitment assistance available to a HPSA depends on the degree of shortage assigned it by the NHSC. Areas may be eligible for placement of National Health Service Corps scholarship recipients or loan repayment for physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants
DENTAL HEALTH HPSAs - Qualifying Criteria
To be designated as a dental HPSA, an area must meet
three criteria. It must:
1. Be a rational service area for the delivery of care, and
2. Have a lack of access to health care in surrounding areas because
of distance,
over utilization, or access barriers, and
3. Have either one dentist for every 5,000 or more people (5000:1)
OR
one dentist for 4,000 to 4,999 people (4999:1 to 4000: 1)
PLUS
population features demonstrating "unusually high need" or evidence that the dentists and dental care system is overloaded.
Click here to
contact the OLRH staff member responsible for this program.
| More information regarding the
eligibility of areas for Health Professional Shortage Areas, can be found at the Bureau of Health Care Professions website at: http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/shortage/ |