As designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), a primary care health professional shortage area (HPSA) is a facility, geographic area, or population group where residents are underserved for basic medical care because not enough primary care physicians service the community given the size of its population. As of March 31, 2025, more than 77.2 million Americans lived in HRSA-designated primary care shortfall areas. The twelve-state Southeastern U.S. had, as of 3/31/25, almost 25.7 million residents living in primary care shortfall areas. The HRSA estimates that to eliminate this shortfall, the Southeastern U.S. would need over 4,200 additional primary care physicians serving HPSAs in the region. A deeper examination of 3/31/25 HRSA data provides the following state-level view of the primary care shortfall in the Southeastern U.S.:
 |
The Primary Care Shortfall in the Southeastern U.S. |
State |
(1) HPSAs |
(2) Population |
(3) Shortfall |
AL |
109 |
2,018,437 |
221 |
AR |
144 |
1,101,893 |
131 |
FL |
292 |
6,166,533 |
1,338 |
GA |
231 |
2,783,079 |
586 |
KY |
231 |
1,426,402 |
305 |
LA |
175 |
2,086,166 |
206 |
MS |
153 |
1,379,002 |
251 |
NC |
195 |
2,296,076 |
409 |
SC |
93 |
1,395,598 |
162 |
TN |
142 |
2,364,873 |
272 |
VA |
137 |
1,933,391 |
210 |
WV |
121 |
748,303 |
123 |
|
|
|
|
Region |
2,023 |
25,699,753 |
4,214 |
|
|
|
|
U.S. |
7,749 |
77,253,848 |
13,364 |
(1) HRSA-designated Geographic Units, Population Groups, and Facilities with a primary care shortfall
(2) Population of designated HPSAs
(3) Primary Care practitioners needed to remove the HPSA Designation
Source: Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 3/31/25 (HRSA)