September 30, 2020 data published by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) indicates that more than 119 million Americans lived in areas or settings designated as a mental health care Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA). A mental health care HPSA is a geographic area, population group, or facility where access to mental health care services is substandard because it lacks a sufficient number of mental health care providers. In the case of mental health care services, a HRSA shortage designation is based upon the number of people residing 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 workers, clinical social psychologists, marriage & family therapists and psychiatric nurse specialists. Although the population-to-provider ratio necessary 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 limits established by federal regulations. Areas designated as having a mental health care shortage are eligible to participate in federal programs aimed at attracting more mental health care providers to work with these communities. The HRSA estimates that, as of September 2020, all mental health care shortage areas in the U.S. would need about 6,500 more mental health care providers to eliminate all such shortage designations.
HPSAs in the Great Lakes states account for about 15.2% of the U.S. population who live in mental health care shortage areas and 12.9% of the national shortage of mental health care providers. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Great Lakes region would need 837 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 the Great Lakes region:
 |
| The Mental Health Care Shortage in the Great Lakes Region |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| IL | 166 | 4,873.5 | 219 |
| IN | 84 | 4,426.8 | 196 |
| MI | 235 | 4,224.4 | 207 |
| OH | 111 | 2,385.1 | 109 |
| WI | 114 | 2,186.0 | 106 |
| Region | 710 | 18,095.8 | 837 |
| U.S. | 5,733 | 119,344.0 | 6,464 |
