This indicator measures the percent of people in California (not limited to older adults) who live in a primary care shortage area, as defined by the Department of Health Care Access and Information (HCAI).  This indicator is based on primary care shortage as re-defined by HCAI in 2020, when the definition of primary care provider was expanded to include physicians, nurse practitioners, and physician assistants and the definition of shortage was changed to consider the percentage of residents living below the federal poverty level. As a result of this definitional change, the percentage of Californians living in a primary care shortage area is lower in 2020 than it was in 2019 under the prior methodology. Future decreases in this number using the 2020 definition is one component of improving older adults’ access to care. 

Check out the Health Reimagined Goal Page to explore dynamic visualizations and view more detailed data related to this topic.

To learn more about our data sources and methodologies, please see the Data Dashboard for Aging - About the Data Technical Guide.

• Healthy People 2030: Access to Primary Care
• California Primary Care Office (HCAI)
• Primary Care Shortage Areas Report Memo (HCAI)
• California Future Health Workforce Commission
• California Health Workforce Initiative
• Find Shortage Areas (HRSA)
• Health Professional Shortage Areas in California: Data Sets (CalHHS)
• 2021 Edition: California’s Health Care Workforce (CHCF)
• The geographic alignment of primary care Health Professional Shortage Areas with markers for social determinants of health (Research article)