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Shortage Designations
Throughout the U.S., there are geographic areas, populations, and facilities with too few primary care, dental and mental health providers and services. Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSA) and Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/P) are designations that help prioritize and focus our resources to help meet the health care needs of medically underserved rural and urban areas of Minnesota. The Minnesota Office of Rural Health and Primary Care helps underserved sites determine service areas, provides statistical information and prepares applications for federal shortage area designation.
Federal Shortage Designation Project
The Federal Shortage Designation Project, which began in 2014, is an effort to modernize the shortage designation process and improve transparency, accountability, and parity in the HPSA designation and scoring process. The project aims to update existing geographic, population, and facility HPSA designations using standardized national data sets from direct sources. These sources include the National Provider Index (NPI), American Community Survey, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
What will happen during the National Shortage Designation Update?
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) will conduct the next National Shortage Designation Update for Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) in September 2025. In preparation, the Minnesota Primary Care Office (PCO) is proactively submitting HPSA applications for areas that qualify to maintain their designation.
After the September 2025 update, areas that no longer meet qualifications will be placed in "proposed for withdrawal" status. The Minnesota PCO will then review designations that are proposed for withdrawal, and resubmit any that may qualify for a new designation. If the area does not qualify as an HPSA, it will be officially withdrawn in July 2026, as announced in the Federal Register Notice.
Auto-HPSA Facility Designations are not at risk of being placed in "proposed for withdrawal" status; however, they may experience changes in HPSA scores. Auto-HPSAs include:
- Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHC)
- FQHC look-alikes
- Tribally Run Clinics
- Rural Health Clinics
- Federally Run Indian Health Service Clinics
- Dual-funded Tribal Health Centers
- Urban Indian Organizations
What actions can be taken?
- Minnesota providers and clinics may contact the Minnesota Primary Care Office to request a preview report of their HPSA score and designation.
- Providers and clinics may contact the Minnesota PCO to share updated provider data to be entered into the designation database.
For questions or assistance, please contact the Minnesota Shortage Designation Coordinator at health.orhpc@state.mn.us
Minnesota Health Professional Shortage Areas
Dental
Primary
- Health Professional Shortage Areas - Primary Care, Minnesota, 2024 (PDF)
- Primary Care HPSAs in Minneapolis and St. Paul, 2024 (PDF)
Mental Health
- Minnesota Rational Service Areas - Mental Health: Geographic HPSA Designations, 2024 (PDF)
- Minnesota Rational Service Areas - Mental Health: Geographic HPSA Designations Metro Area, 2024 (PDF)
HRSA Information on HPSA
The What Is Shortage Designation? | Bureau of Health Workforce (hrsa.gov) website has more information on HPSA criteria as well as a searchable database of designated shortage areas by county or address.
Health Workforce Shortage Areas
Minnesota Medically Underserved Areas/Populations
Use the searchable database on the HRSA website to find Medically Underserved Areas/Populations (MUA/Ps) by county.
HRSA's Medically Underserved Areas/Populations site has more information on MUA and MUP criteria and guidelines.
Contact
For more information, please contact:
health.orhpc@state.mn.us