According to September 2020 data published by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), over 119 million Americans live in more than 5,700 areas or settings designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) for mental health care services. A mental health care HPSA is a geographic area, population group, or facility where access to mental health care is substandard because it lacks a sufficient number of mental health care providers. With respect to mental health care, HRSA designation is based upon the population within the HPSA relative to the number of mental health care providers that service the area. Some areas receive a shortage designation because of the size of 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, 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 HPSAs have a population-to-provider ratio that meets or exceeds certain thresholds stipulated by federal regulations. Areas designated as a mental health care HPSA can participate in federal programs aimed at attracting more mental health care providers to work with these medically underserved communities. 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.
More than 780 HPSAs in the seven-state Great Plains region account for about 7.2% of the U.S. population who live in mental health care shortage areas, and about 6.5% of the national shortage of mental health care providers. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Great Plains region would need over 400 more 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 Plains region:
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| The Mental Health Care Shortage in the Great Plains Region |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| IA | 90 | 1,821.3 | 62 |
| KS | 128 | 1,383.3 | 54 |
| MN | 116 | 1,784.0 | 76 |
| MO | 246 | 1,871.9 | 143 |
| NE | 72 | 1,038.0 | 26 |
| ND | 71 | 303.0 | 22 |
| SD | 61 | 448.3 | 36 |
| Region | 784 | 8,649.8 | 419 |
| U.S. | 5,733 | 119,344.0 | 6,464 |
