America’s Primary Care Shortage
May 31, 2010
Here’s a snapshot of America’s primary care shortage as measured in 2008. Red designates counties in which there aren’t enough primary care physicians; turquoise designates counties with partial shortages in certain areas; white means no shortage.
H/t Kavita Patel for the New Health Dialogue blog.
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My first time here. Great blog.
OK. So, here’s a question about this graphic – who’s a primary care provider? Only MD’s? Or does this include NP’s? PA’s?
I suspect the docs are making a lot of noise about this to get their rates increased (which does need to happen). However, in 20-some states they fight to keep the ‘mid-levels’ from more independent practice.
Watch for upcoming turf wars in states where NP’s and PA’s plan to flex some political muscle as HCR rolls out.
[...] few weeks ago I posted a map of primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) that I’d poached from the [...]
@Rose: Good point, good question, and thanks for the comment.
I’ve posted an update and response to your question here. The source data for the map come from the Health Resources and Services Administration at HHS. They can be a bit loose with the terminology—”provider”, “professional”, “clinician”, “practitioner”, etc. But the designation of a primary care “Health Professional Shortage Area” (HPSA) is officially based on the ratio of population to primary care physicians—meaning MDs (or DOs)—among other factors.