Health Professional Shortage Areas in California - UCLA

							Brenda Pérez
UP 206A
Winter 2011
 Federal program under the Health
  Resources and Services Administration
 Develop shortage designation criteria to
  determine:
        › Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA)
        › Medically Underserved Area (MUA)
        › Medically Underserved Population (MUP)
     Approximately one third of Californians
      live in a designated HPSA, MUP or MUA.¹
¹ CA Office of Statewide Planning and Development (OSHPD)
•   Medical Service Study Area (MSSA):
      • Calculated from the most
         populous census tract within
         the MSSA.
 Based on the Index of Medical
  Underservice
 Medically Underserved Areas (MUA):
     › Areas in which residents have a shortage of
          personal health services.
   Medically Underserved Populations
    (MUP):
     › Populations who face barriers to health care.


¹US Department of Health and Human Services
• Concentrations of
MUAs:
   • East LA
   • Downtown LA
   • Long Beach
   Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs)
     › HPSAs may be designated as having a shortage of
          primary medical care, dental or mental health
          providers. They may be urban or rural areas,
          population groups or medical or other public
          facilities.
   Scoring based on:
     › Population-to-Primary Care Physician Ratio
     › Percent of the Population with Incomes below 100%
       of the Poverty level
     › Infant Mortality Rate or Low Birth Weight Rate
     › Travel Time or Distance to nearest available source of
       care ¹

¹US Department of Health and Human Services
 Large regional disparities
 Health professionals have a large presence
  in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas

 Incentives for health professionals to
  relocate do not seem to be working
 Possible infrastructure challenges:
    › Lack of hospitals in rural areas
    › Lack of access to specialized care
 Inset Map
 Point Graduated Symbols
 Graph
 Buffering
 Geoprocessing (Clipping)
 Aggregating Attribute Fields