The Far West's Mental Health Care Shortage

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) designates a geographic area, population group or facility where access to mental health care is substandard as a mental health HPSA (health professional shortage area). This designation can be based on the size of the HPSA's population relative to either (a) the number of psychiatrists that service the area, or (b) the combined number of psychiatrists and certain other types of mental health care providers that serve the community. Currently, most mental health HPSA designations are based on population size relative to the number of psychiatrists serving the community.

As of December 31, 2021, mental health care HPSAs in the six-state Far West region had 21.2 million residents, accounting for about 15.5% of the U.S. population who lived in mental health care shortage areas.  To eliminate the shortage, the HRSA estimates that Far West HPSAs would need 1,065 additional mental health care providers.  Further examination of HRSA data reveals the following state-level details about the Far West's mental health care shortage:

The Far West's Mental Health Care Shortage

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortage
AK	316	398,691	17
CA	586	12,357,573	648
HI	32	496,032	28
NV	52	2,445,765	111
OR	136	2,392,009	114
WA	177	3,113,241	147
Region	1,299	21,203,311	1,065
U.S.	6,078	136,575,592	6,851

(1) Designated Geographic, Population Group and Facility HPSAs with a mental health care shortage

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Mental Health Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 12/31/21 (HRSA)

The Southwest's Dental Care Shortage

According to data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), as of December 31, 2021, almost 64.2 million Americans lived in a dental health professional shortage area (HPSA).  A dental health HPSA is a geographic area, population group, or facility where access to dental care is impaired because too few dentists work in the area relative to the size of the population.  In the four-state Southwest, as of December 31, 2021, over 7.6 million residents lived in dental care shortage areas, or about 11.8% of all Americans who lived in a dental health HPSA.  The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Southwest would need 1,254 more dentists to eliminate the dental care shortage in the region.  This deficit represented about 11.2% of the national shortage of dentists.  Here is a summary look at the Southwest's dental care shortage:

The Southwest's Dental Care Shortage

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortage
AZ	211	2,307,555	398
NM	107	1,150,822	223
OK	169	1,044,074	181
TX	311	3,099,494	452
Region	798	7,601,945	1,254
U.S.	6,803	64,236,250	11,181

(1) Designated Geographic, Population Group and Facility HPSAs with a dental care shortage

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Dental Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 12/31/21 (HRSA)