How to Apply for Health Professional Shortage Area Designation

All requests for designation of health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) are evaluated by the HRSA Bureau of Health Professions, National Center for Health Workforce Analysis Shortage Designation Branch. Evaluations are based on the shortage/underservice criteria established by regulation:

• HPSA designation criteria

• Primary medical care HPSA designation criteria

• Dental HPSA designation criteria

• Primary medical care/dental HPSA guidelines 

• Mental health HPSA designation criteria

• Mental health HPSA guidelines

Requests should be addressed to:

Andy Jordan, MSPH, acting chief
Shortage Designation Branch
National Center for Health Workforce Analysis
Bureau of Health Professions
Parklawn Building, Room 8C-26
5600 Fishers Lane
Rockville, MD 20857

Concurrently, a copy of each request is to be sent by the applicant to the State Primary Care Office (PCO) contact. The State PCO will provide copies of the request to the Governor's office, State health planning and development agency/State health department (if not the PCO contact), State primary care association, health systems agency (where active), and appropriate State professional association(s) for comment. Mental health HPSA designation requests are also sent to the State mental health authority and dental HPSA requests to the State dental officer. These parties are provided 30 days to comment on the request. In order to expedite the designation process, it is recommended that persons submitting a request solicit the assistance of the State PCO and the other commenting agencies/organizations prior to submission to the SDB and the State PCO. If the information in a request is insufficient, the applicant will be contacted by the SDB and additional information requested.

Once comments have been received or the comment period has expired, the SDB will complete its evaluation of the request and determine whether the criteria for designation have been satisfied. Notification of the final action taken on a designation request will be sent to the applicant, to the commenting offices listed above, and to any other interested parties identified during the course of the review. Efforts are made to complete action on each designation request within 90 days from the date of receipt by SDB, depending on current caseload.

For shortage designation inquiries, please call 1-888-275-4772. Press option 1, then option 2 or contact the Shortage Designation Branch:
sdb@hrsa.gov
301-594-0816
301-443-4370 fax
5600 Fishers Lane
Room 8C-26
Rockville, MD 20857