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Many communities in northern Wisconsin are categorized as rural and underserved by
national health care standards. Recruitment of students to rural positions is
an on-going effort as well as delivering programming and health information that
health care professionals in remote areas need.
The Health Resources and Services Administration, part of the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, maintains lists of designated Primary Medical Care,
Mental Health, and Dental Health Professional Shortage Areas, called HPSAs.
A geographic area is designated as
a health professional shortage area (HPSA) if:
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The area has a population to
full-time equivalent primary care physician ratio of
at least 3,500:1.
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The area has a population to
full-time equivalent primary care physician ratio of
less than 3,500:1 but greater than 3,000:1 and has
unusually high needs for primary care services or
insufficient capacity of existing primary care
providers.
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Primary medical care
professionals in contiguous areas are over utilized,
excessively distant, or inaccessible to the population
of the area under consideration.
Located in
the NAHEC region are:
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40 (which is 57%) of the
state’s 70 federally designated HPSAs by geographic,
population, and tribal descriptions
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28 (which is 70%) of the
state’s 40 federally designated Dental HPSAs
Take a look at the
Wisconsin HPSA map prepared by the WI Office
of Rural Health.
There is a separate map for Dental
Health Professional Shortage Areas.
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