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
