September 2020 data released by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) indicates that over 119 million Americans lived in mental health care shortage areas. These areas, known as Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) by the HRSA, are geographic areas, population groups, or facilities where access to mental health care services is substandard because of a lack 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 earn a shortage designation based on its population relative to the number of psychiatrists in the area, while others earn designation 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, 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 mental health care shortage areas have a population-to-provider ratio that meets or exceeds certain thresholds 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.
The twelve-state Southeast region of the country suffers from the most acute mental health care shortage of all regions of the U.S. HPSAs in the region account for about 29.7% of the U.S. population who live in mental health care shortage areas and 34.0% of the shortage of mental health care providers nationally. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Southeast would need nearly 2,200 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 Southeast:
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| The Mental Health Care Shortage in the Southeast |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| AL | 58 | 2,927.8 | 156 |
| AR | 48 | 1,426.3 | 67 |
| FL | 204 | 6,387.8 | 388 |
| GA | 87 | 4,911.3 | 193 |
| KY | 112 | 3,204.3 | 177 |
| LA | 150 | 3,399.0 | 159 |
| MS | 83 | 2,375.3 | 278 |
| NC | 178 | 2,670.8 | 149 |
| SC | 70 | 2,304.8 | 112 |
| TN | 72 | 3,224.3 | 295 |
| VA | 73 | 1,943.5 | 102 |
| WV | 101 | 708.1 | 122 |
| Region | 1,236 | 35,483.3 | 2,198 |
| U.S. | 5,733 | 119,344.0 | 6,464 |
