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Health Professional Shortage Areas and Medically Underserved Areas

Recent Approvals	What is a Shortage Area and Underserved Area?
Am I Located in a Designated Area?	Designation Benefits
Need more Information?

Primary Care Provider Survey

Primary Care Survey Guide (pdf 55KB)

Primary Care Survey (online survey )
Primary Care Survey (pdf version 56 KB)

Am I Located in a Designated Area?

We maintain a current table (pdf 99kb) of all designations. You can also view shortage area maps on the Health Care Infrastructure Mapping Website. We define partial-county designations using the 2000 census tract boundaries. The table column titled "Geographic Units" lists designated census tracts. We suggest that you use either the federal geo-coding system http://www.ffiec.gov/geocode/default.htm or the Department of Health» s geo-coding website http://ww4.doh.wa.gov/gis/mapping.htm   to determine if a facility is located in a designated census tract.

Washington State Designation Contact Information

Laura Olexa

Health Care Access Analyst

Telephone: 360-236-2811

Email: laura.olexa@doh.wa.gov

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What is a Health Profession Shortage Area and Underserved Area?

There are three shortage area categories: primary care, dental care, and mental health care. The table below shows the types of designations and their requirements. Medically underserved areas are different in that they are only available for primary care.

Designation Type	General Requirements
Geographic	Everyone has difficulty getting healthcare services
Population	Low-income, migrant, or homeless populations have difficulty getting care
Facility	A facility not in a designated area, but who serves residents from a designated shortage area
Federally Recognized Tribe	American Indian and Alaska Native
Correctional Facility	Medium or maximum security facility

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Designation Benefits

There are over 30 federal and state programs that use designations. The table below shows the most popular used in our state. Each one has more requirements. Please follow the links under the program titles to learn more about the program.

Program	Professional Shortage Area	Underserved Designation
Federally Qualified Health Center	Helpful	Required
Rural Health Clinic	Primary Care Required	Required
J-1 Visa Waiver Program	Primary Care Required	Whole County Required
HPSA Medicare Bonus Payments	Geographic Primary Care Required	N/A
National Health Service Corps	Provider specific	N/A
State Loan Repayment and Scholarship	N/A	N/A

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Want more Information?

The Office of Community and Rural Health manages designations for Washington State. You can contact Laura Olexa at laura.olexa@doh.wa.gov to obtain more details on designation requirements. The Guide to Federal Health Professional Shortage Areas and Underserved Designations discusses the program in more detail.

Washington State Designation Contact Information

Laura Olexa

Health Care Access Analyst

Telephone: 360-236-2811

Email: laura.olexa@doh.wa.gov

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