For information on Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designations please visit www.michigan.gov/hpsa.  For maps and lists of designated areas you can click on the "Where Are Michigan's Designated Shortage Areas?" link.  When reviewing this information, it is important to keep in mind the following notes related to the Michigan State Loan Repayment Program (MSLRP):

• To be eligible for MSLRP, a provider practice site must be located in the same type of HPSA as the type of care provided at the practice site.  For example, a dentist must serve their MSLRP service obligation in a practice site located within a dental health care HPSA.  Be sure to check the correct resource for your provider type (primary medical care, dental health care, or mental health care).
• HPSA designations are reviewed periodically and may occasionally be removed from the list of designations.  The lists and maps available at www.michigan.gov/hpsa are intended to be a quick and easy reference, but due to time delays in their updates they may not reflect the most up to date information.  For MSLRP, the key point is that the practice site must be in a designated HPSA on the start date of an MSLRP provider contract.  If a designation you are interested in is nearing (or past) 4 years old, you may want to check the federal database for HPSA designation information available at: http://hpsafind.hrsa.gov/.
• If you are interested in an area that doesn't have a full county designation, but instead has a list of designated townships and cities (minor civil divisions) or census tracts, you may need a tool to help determine if your practice site falls within the designated area.  Try the Address Search Tool available through the U.S. Census Bureau.  Entering the address of interest and clicking "Go" should bring up information on various geographic boundaries in which the address falls (including the minor civil division and census tract).
• If you have reviewed the materials described above and you still have questions, please utilize the HPSA and MUA/P Contact Information Website.