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Observational Study
. 2021 Jul 1;4(7):e2118836.
doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2021.18836.

Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area Designations Before and After the Affordable Care Act's Shortage Designation Modernization Project

Christopher A Scannell  1   2   3 , Jacob K Quinton  2   3 , Nicholas J Jackson  3 , Yusuke Tsugawa  3   4
Affiliations
Observational Study

Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area Designations Before and After the Affordable Care Act's Shortage Designation Modernization Project

Christopher A Scannell et al. JAMA Netw Open. .

Abstract

This cross-sectional study evaluates whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) Shortage Designation Modernization Project is associated with changes in primary care health professional shortage area (PC-HPSA) designations.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Scannell reported receiving support from the National Clinician Scholars Program, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the VA Office of Academic Affiliations through the National Clinician Scholars Program. Dr. Quinton reported receiving support from the National Clinician Scholars Program, UCLA. Dr. Tsugawa reported receiving grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities and the NIH/National Institute on Aging for other work not related to this study. No other disclosures were reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Geographic Distribution of Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area (PC-HPSA) Designations
County-level distribution PC-HPSA designations in 2010 (A) and 2018 (B). The maps are color-coded based on designation status or where data are missing.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Temporal Changes in Primary Care Health Professional Shortage Area (PC-HPSA) Designations and Population-to-Primary Care Physician (PCP) Ratios
Line graphs of the annual number of counties with non-, partial-county, and full-county PC-HPSA designations (A) and the corresponding median population-to-PCP ratios within these counties between 2010 and 2018 (B). The gray vertical line denotes 2014, when the Shortage Designation Modernization Project was implemented. In panel B, the dashed line indicates the minimum required 3000 to 1 population-to-PCP ratio for full-county PC-HPSA designation.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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