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Health professional shortage area maps and data

These maps and data describe the health professional capacity at the community level across Colorado. Federal shortage designations are created using methodologies published in the Federal Register (Federal Register Notice). State Health Professional Shortage Areas (sHPSAs) are created under the State Board of Health Rules (6 CCR 1015-6).

For questions about federal or state health professional shortage area maps and data, please contact cdphe_chsd@state.co.us.

Maps and eligibility

Federal designations

Overview

The Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) administers programs designed to strengthen the health workforce by connecting skilled professionals to underserved communities. Shortage designation is used to identify an area, population, or facility experiencing a shortage of health care services. The BHW establishes criteria for identifying two types of shortage areas: Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) and Medically Underserved Areas and Populations (MUA/Ps). 

  • HPSAs can be geographic areas, populations, or facilities. HPSAs are determined for primary, dental, and mental health care providers. These designations are used to support resource distribution for several federal programs, including the National Health Service Corps (NHSC).
  • MUA/Ps are geographic areas and populations with a lack of access to primary care services. These designations help establish health maintenance organizations or community health centers. (Note: MUAs and MUPs should not be used for contemporary needs assessment or analysis and only represent local conditions at the time they were created.)

Eligibility

Eligibility for HPSA status is based on demonstration of unmet need for provider capacity. 

  • The federal scoring method takes into account population-to-provider ratios for the designation, as well as other indicators of need that are specific to the discipline of the designation. 
  • Because of the additional factors, larger HPSA scores are generally indicative of greater need, but are not valid for direct comparison of provider capacity deficiency between designations.

Maps


Federal Shortage designations are also available as data tables.

State designations

Overview

In addition to federal shortage designations, Colorado has developed a novel method for shortage designation, described in the State Board of Health Rules (6 CCR 1015-6), which is used to identify State-Designated Health Professional Shortage Areas (sHPSAs) for several health professional disciplines.

The methodology for sHPSA designation is based on:

  1. The estimated demand for discipline-specific health services for a population within a specific geographic area,
  2. The estimated supply of discipline-specific services for the population within a specific geographic area, and
  3. The determination of whether supply meets demand within a service area.
  4. Areas of the state where the supply falls short of the estimated demand for minimally adequate care (a discipline-specific threshold) are state-designated health professional shortage areas.

sHPSA designations are available for the following health professional disciplines.

  • Primary Care
    • General Primary Care
    • Pediatric Primary Care
  • Behavioral Health
  • Dental Health
    • Dentists
    • Oral Hygienists [Coming Soon]
  • Perinatal Health
    • Prenatal Health
    • Labor & Delivery [Coming Soon]

Maps

PDF maps are available upon request. Please email cdphe_chsd@state.co.us

sHPSA designations are also available as data tables 

Data

Searchable federal database

Find data on the geographic, population, and facility HPSA designations throughout the United States on the HPSA Find website.

Needs assessment data

Use the Federally Qualified Health Center Needs Assessment Guide to access county-level data on core health indicators and identified access barriers.