September 30, 2020 data from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) reveals that more than 119 million Americans lived in over 5,700 areas or settings designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) for mental health care services. An HPSA is a geographic area, population group, or facility where access to healthcare services is substandard because it lacks a sufficient number of primary care, dental or mental health care providers. With respect to mental health care, HRSA designation criteria is based upon the population within the HPSA relative to the number of mental health care providers that service the area. Certain areas receive a shortage designation based on its population relative to the number of psychiatrists in the area, while others are designated based upon its population relative to the number of psychiatrists and core mental health providers. For HRSA purposes, core mental health providers include clinical social psychologists, clinical social workers, psychiatric nurse specialists, and marriage & family Therapists. Although the population-to-provider ratio needed to qualify for designation varies by HPSA type (geographic, population or facility), all HPSAs with a mental health care shortage designation have a population-to-provider ratio that meets or exceeds certain thresholds stipulated by federal regulations. Areas designated as an HPSA are eligible to participate in federal programs aimed at attracting more mental health care providers to work with these medically underserved populations. The HRSA estimates that, as of September 30, 2020, all mental health care HPSAs in the U.S. would need about 6,500 more mental health care providers to eliminate all shortage designations.
HPSAs in New England account for about 1.8% of the U.S. population who live in mental health care shortage areas. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in New England would need 120 more mental health care providers in order to eliminate the mental health care shortage in the region. Here is a summary look at the mental health care shortage in New England:
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| The Mental Health Care Shortage in New England |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| CT | 37 | 1,122.6 | 62 |
| ME | 58 | 260.9 | 29 |
| MA | 53 | 273.1 | 17 |
| NH | 21 | 92.5 | 3 |
| RI | 13 | 424.0 | 9 |
| VT | 11 | N/A | N/A |
| Region | 193 | 2,173.0 | 120 |
| U.S. | 5,733 | 119,344.0 | 6,464 |
