The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released September 2020 data that reveals that more than 119 million Americans live 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 inadequate because of a lack of mental health care providers. With respect to 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. Some areas earn a shortage designation based on its population relative to the number of psychiatrists in the area, while others are designated a shortage area 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, marriage & family therapists, clinical social psychologists, and psychiatric nurse specialists. The population-to-provider ratio necessary to qualify for a shortage designation varies by HPSA type (geographic, population or facility), but all areas with a mental health care shortage have a population-to-provider ratio that meets or exceeds certain limits stipulated by federal regulations. Areas designated as having a mental health care shortage can participate in federal programs aimed at attracting more mental health care providers to work in 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 five-state MidEast region of the country has 390 mental health care shortage areas. The HPSAs in the region account for about 6.0% of the U.S. population who live in mental health care shortage areas and 8.0% of the shortage of mental health care providers nationally. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the MidEast region would need over 500 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 MidEast region of the United States:
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| The Mental Health Care Shortage in the MidEast Region |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| DE | 9 | 88.7 | 15 |
| DC | 10 | 133.9 | 28 |
| MD | 40 | 1,082.3 | 48 |
| NJ | 35 | 39.7 | 13 |
| NY | 177 | 4,102.7 | 315 |
| PA | 119 | 1,710.4 | 101 |
| Region | 390 | 7,157.7 | 520 |
| U.S. | 5,733 | 119,344.0 | 6,464 |
