CMS Pub. 100-02, ch. 13, § 20.2

The HRSA designates areas as MUAs/MUPs and/or Health Professional Shortage Areas

(HPSAs). To be eligible for RHC certification, a clinic must be located in an area that

has one of the following types of shortage area designations:

• Geographic Primary Care HPSA;

• Population-group Primary Care HPSA;

• MUA (this does not include the population group MUP designation); or

• Governor-Designated and Secretary-Certified Shortage Area (this does not

include a Governor’s Medically Underserved Population designation).

No other type of shortage area designation is accepted for purposes of RHC certification.

The designation cannot be more than 4 years old in order to meet the requirement of

being in a currently designated area. For RHC purposes, the age of the designation is

calculated as the last day of the year 4 years from the date of the original designation, or

the date the area was last designated. For example, a clinic that is located in an area that

was most recently designated or updated on June 1, 2010, would be considered as

meeting this location requirement through December 31, 2014.

Areas that are listed as “proposed for withdrawal” are considered designated. The

designation date is the date that the area was last updated, not when the area was

proposed for withdrawal. To determine the designation date of an area that is listed as

“proposed for withdrawal”, contact HRSA’s Shortage Designation Branch at

sdb@hrsa.gov or call 1-888-275-4772.