A health professional shortage area (HPSA) is a geographic area, population group, or healthcare facility designated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) as an area where there aren't enough health professionals. There are 3 categories of HPSAs: 1. Primary care 2. Dental health 3. Mental health. https://data.hrsa.gov/topics/health-workforce/shortage-areas

Health professional shortage areas (HPSA) attempt to identify the provider shortages in primary care, mental and dental health. Like the rest of the nation, Utah has seen a dramatic increase in health workforce shortages and this is reflected in our HPSA designations. In the past 5 years, Utah’s HPSA designations have increased across all three disciplines. Between 2020- 2021 Utah’s mental health HPSA designations increased by approximately 20%. Because of the increase, from 2021- 2024, Utah was entirely covered by a mental health HPSA. Additionally, both the primary care and dental health HPSA designations have also increased, seeing the highest increase from 2023- 2024. HPSA designation scoring is determined by various factors but the highest ranked factor is population to provider ratio. Because Utah has seen a steady increase in population since 2019, the HPSA designations have also been increased because there are more individuals needing health services. Overall the HPSA designations have varied throughout the years primarily because of the COVID-19 pandemic and steady increase in population living in Utah.