A geographic area, population group, or facility that has poor access to basic medical care because it lacks a sufficient number of primary care physicians can be designated a primary care health professional shortage area (HPSA) by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).  As of December 31, 2022, more than 98.5 million Americans lived in primary care HPSAs as designated by the HRSA.  The five-state Rocky Mountain region accounted for just over 3.7% of the U.S. population who lived in primary care shortage areas, and about 3.4% of the overall national shortage of primary care providers.  The HRSA estimates that to eliminate the shortage Rocky Mountain region HPSAs would need 586 additional primary care physicians.  A closer examination of 12/31/22 HRSA data reveals the following about the Rocky Mountain region's primary care shortage:

The Rocky Mountain Region's Primary Care Shortage

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortage
CO	132	1,233,403	224
ID	105	573,749	100
MT	152	511,008	93
UT	71	1,147,454	145
WY	44	186,622	24
Region	504	3,652,236	586
U.S.	8,294	98,537,257	17,065

(1) Designated Geographic, Population Group, and Facility HPSAs with a primary care shortage

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Primary Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 12/31/22 (HRSA)