Name: Health Professional Shortage Area: Dental Health
Display Field: HpsSrcID
Type: Feature Layer
Geometry Type: esriGeometryPolygon
Description: This indicator provides information about health professional shortage areas (HPSAs) for dental health services as determined by the federal Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). Each designated area includes multiple census tracts.HPSAs can be geographic areas, populations, or health care facilities that have been designated as having a shortage of health professionals. Geographic HPSAs have a shortage of providers for an entire population in a defined geographic area. Population HPSAs have a shortage of providers for a subpopulation in a defined geographic area, such as low-income populations, people experiencing homelessness, and migrant farmworker populations. In Los Angeles County, facility HPSAs include:•Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs); •FQHC Look-A-Likes (LALs); •Indian Health Service, Tribal Health, and Urban Indian Health Organizations; •correctional facilities; • and some other facilities. For these indicators, we include HPSAs in Los Angeles County with statuses listed as “Designated” or “Proposed for Withdrawal” (but not withdrawn yet). Due to the nature of the designation process, a census tract may be designated as any combination of geographic and population HPSAs and three categories of care (i.e., primary, dental, and mental health care). Facility HPSAs may also cover multiple types of care.State Primary Care Offices submit applications to HRSA to designate certain areas within counties as HPSAs for primary care, dental, and mental health services. HRSA’s National Health Service Corps calculates HPSA scores to determine priorities for assignment of clinicians. The scores range from 0 to 26 for dental health, where higher scores indicate greater priority. All HPSA categories shared three scoring criteria: (1) population-to-provider ratio, (2) percent of population below 100% of the Federal Poverty Level, and (3) travel time to the nearest source of care outside the HPSA designation area. Each category also has additional criteria that go into the scores. Specifically, dental health HPSA scoring includes water fluoridation status. Note: if an area is not designated as an HPSA, it does not mean it is not underserved, only that an application has not been filed for the area and that an official designation has not been given.HPSA designations help distribute participating health care providers and resources to high-need communities.For more information about the Community Health Profiles Data Initiative, please see the initiative homepage.
Copyright Text: Indicator generated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. Data for calculating this indicator came from the following sources: Health Resources & Services Admnistration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, HPSA - Primary Care, HPSA - Mental Health, HSPA - Dental Health files, downloaded 06/14/23