A population group, facility, or geographic area where access to mental health care providers is poor can be designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as a health professional shortage area (HPSA) for mental health care services. This designation can be based on the size of the HPSA's population relative to either (a) the number of psychiatrists, or (b) the combined number of psychiatrists and certain other mental health care practitioners (clinical social workers, clinical psychologists, etc.) that serve the community. Currently, most HRSA mental health care shortage designations are based on population size relative to the number of psychiatrists. As of December 31, 2022, more than 158.4 million Americans lived in a mental health care shortage area according to HRSA data.
The twelve-state Southeast region accounted for about 28.7% of the U.S. population who lived in mental health care shortage areas as of December 31, 2022. The HRSA estimates that HPSAs in the Southeast would need 2,451 more mental health care providers in order to eliminate that shortage. The Southeast's shortage of mental health providers thus represented about 30.8% of the nation's mental health care provider shortage. A closer study of December 31, 2022, HRSA data reveals the following about the Southeast's mental health care shortage:
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The Southeast's Mental Health Care Shortage |
| State | (1) HPSAs | (2) Population | (3) Shortage |
| AL | 75 | 4,884,042 | 241 |
| AR | 69 | 1,373,044 | 75 |
| FL | 237 | 9,144,127 | 535 |
| GA | 94 | 6,040,851 | 217 |
| KY | 140 | 3,867,642 | 215 |
| LA | 170 | 3,627,424 | 166 |
| MS | 91 | 3,188,003 | 188 |
| NC | 204 | 3,922,628 | 225 |
| SC | 77 | 2,272,722 | 106 |
| TN | 76 | 3,464,416 | 261 |
| VA | 108 | 2,828,359 | 132 |
| WV | 115 | 788,226 | 90 |
| Region | 1,456 | 45,401,484 | 2,451 |
| U.S. | 6,599 | 158,413,168 | 7,957 |
| % of U.S. | 22.1% | 28.7% | 30.8% |
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