A geographic area, population group, or facility where residents have substandard access to basic medical care due to a lack of primary care physicians can be designated a primary care HPSA (health professional shortage area) by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA).  As of December 31, 2022, more than 98.5 million Americans lived in primary care HPSAs as designated by the HRSA.  More than 9.6 million residents of the MidEast region of the U.S., which includes the District of Columbia and five states, lived in a primary care HPSA.  The MidEast region thus accounted for just about 9.7% of the U.S. population who lived in primary care shortage areas.  The HRSA estimates that to eliminate the region's primary care shortage, MidEast HPSAs would need more than 2,000 additional primary care physicians.  A closer examination of 12/31/22 HRSA data reveals the following about the MidEast region's primary care shortage:

The MidEast Region's Primary Care Shortage

State	(1) HPSAs	(2) Population	(3) Shortage
DC	19	545,480	122
DE	11	253,696	75
MD	76	1,748,349	354
NJ	38	29,048	21
NY	194	6,449,663	1,348
PA	153	580,050	109
Region	491	9,606,286	2,029
U.S.	8,294	98,537,257	17,065
% of U.S.	5.9%	9.7%	11.9%

(1) Designated Geographic, Population Group, and Facility HPSAs with a primary care shortage

(2) Population of designated HPSAs

(3) Primary Care practitioners needed to remove HPSA Designation

Source:  Designated HPSA Quarterly Summary, 12/31/22 (HRSA)