Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (MHPSA):  MHPSAs are communities within a State that are federally recognized as having a shortage of mental health providers (i.e. Psychiatrists, Core Mental Health Providers) to treat the population of that area  A provider survey is conducted to demonstrate the shortage  There are two types of MHPSA designations: Geographic MHPSA- a shortage of providers for the civilian population of the area Low-income MHPSA- a shortage of providers for the population at 200% poverty which can include the homeless and migrant farmworkers, living in the proposed area V-1

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.) Criteria for MHPSA: Geographic Area A rational service area – Medical Service Study Area  > 30,000:1 psychiatrists, or  > 9,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists, or  > 6,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists and > 20,000:1 psychiatrists V-2

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.) Criteria for MHPSA: Geographic Area w/Unusually High Needs A rational service area plus one of the following: a) 20% or more of the population is < 100 % of the poverty level, or b) The youth ratio (# of persons < 18 to the # of adults ages ) is greater than 0.6, or c) The elderly ratio (# of persons > 65 to the # of adults ages ) is greater than 0.25, or d) Alcohol or substance abuse prevalence data showing the area to be in the worst quartile of the region > 20,000:1 psychiatrists, or > 6,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists, or > 4,500:1 CMHP including psychiatrists and > 15,000:1 psychiatrists V-3

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.) V-4 Criteria for MHPSA: Low Income (Population) Number of individuals in the service area that are at or below 200% of the Federal poverty level  Must be >30% of the population in the service area > 20,000:1 psychiatrists, or > 6,000:1 CMHP including psychiatrists, or > 4,500:1 CMHP including psychiatrists and > 15,000:1 psychiatrists

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.) V-5 Additional Criteria for MHPSA:  The service area must be isolated, no other contiguous service areas within a 40 minute travel polygon can treat the population of the proposed area  The contiguous areas can be ruled out through evidence having barriers of access for themselves or the population of the service area such as: disparities in socio-economic or demographic data, the contiguous area is over utilized for providers (>20,000:1 ratio), the nearest provider outside of the service area is greater than 40 minutes away, or if the contiguous area itself is a MHPSA  The greater the distance of the nearest source of care outside the proposed service area the higher the MHPSA score which demonstrates the greater need for providers  Alcohol and substance abuse prevalence is accounted for to increase the MHPSA score

Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas (cont.) V-6 Useful Links: - Federal shortage designation branch website - Federal shortage designation search page - OSHPD Shortage Designation Program - Shortage Designation resource page