Medically Underserved Areas and Populations

Medically Underserved Areas and Populations

Exhibit 47: Locations of Medically Underserved Areas and Populations, 2022

Source: Health Resources and Services Administration, 2022 and Caliper Maptitude, 2021.

Description Exhibit 47 identifies the location of Medically Underserved Areas (MUAs) and Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs). Medically Underserved Areas and Populations (MUA/Ps) are designated by HRSA based on an “Index of Medical Underservice.” The index includes the following variables: ratio of

primary medical care physicians per 1,000 population, infant mortality rate, percentage of the population with incomes below the poverty level, and percentage of the population age 65 or over.12 Areas with a score of 62 or less are considered “medically underserved.” Populations receiving MUP designation include groups within a geographic area with economic barriers or cultural and/or linguistic access barriers to receiving primary care. If a population group does not qualify for MUP status based on the IMU score, Public Law 99-280 allows MUP designation if “unusual local conditions which are a barrier to access to or the availability of personal health services exist and are documented, and if such a designation is recommended by the chief executive officer and local officials of the state where the requested population resides.”13

Observations

• There were several census tracts in New Castle County that have been designated by HRSA as Medically Underserved Areas. Medically Underserved Areas were present in Community 1 in areas proximate to Wilmington Hospital, and in the northern area of Community 2.

12 Heath Resources and Services Administration. See http://www.hrsa.gov/shortage/mua/index.html 13Ibid.