Access to care requires not only financial coverage but also access to providers. Nearly thirty percent of the population lives in a county designated as a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area. As the mental health parity aspects of the Affordable Care Act create increased coverage for mental health services, many anticipate increased workforce shortages. 

For more information please visit, Mental Health Providers for Cabarrus County Page on the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings.

Mental Health Providers are the ratio of the population to mental health providers. The ratio represents the number of individuals served by one mental health provider in a county if the population was equally distributed across providers. For example, if a county has a population of 50,000 and has 20 mental health providers, their ratio would be 2,500:1. The value on the right side of the ratio is always 1 or 0; 1 indicates that there is at least one mental health provider in the county, and zero indicates there are no registered mental health providers in the county.

To learn more about the Measure Methods, please visit the Mental Health Providers, Measure Methods Section, on the Robert Wood Johnson County Health Rankings Website.