Wisconsin Primary Care Programs - Shortage Designations

Wisconsin Primary Care Programs
Shortage Designations

Document a significant shortage of primary care, dental, or mental health providers in a rural or urban service area;
Are specific to a service area that can be a county, group of towns, group of census tracts in a city, a state or federal correctional facility, a rural health clinic or a community health center; and
Are associated with difficulty or delays in getting basic health care (e.g., long travel distances to providers, long wait times for appointments, or no providers who can serve uninsured or underinsured patients).
Each federally designated Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) must be reviewed by the Wisconsin Primary Care Office (PCO) every 4 years, to see if it continues to meet federal requirements for “re-designation” as an area that has significant shortages of providers.
The PCO works in partnership with clinics to collect the detailed physician/psychiatrist data that are needed in order for the PCO to submit State HPSA applications to the federal Office of Shortage Designation.

Primary Care HPSAs Being Withdrawn:

GEOGRAPHIC HPSAs	BENEFITS THAT WILL BE LOST
Chetek/Colfax Darlington Madison Southside Madison Northeast Milwaukee Juneautown	Lose Medicare HPSA 10% bonus effective 1/1/12 Lose Medicare HPSA bonus for general surgeons on 1/1/12 Lose J-1 visa waiver physician recruitment No development of new Rural Health Clinics eff. 11/3/11. *Existing RHCs are "grandfathered in" and not currently required to be in a designated HPSA.
LOW-INCOME POPULATION HPSAs	BENEFITS THAT WILL BE LOST
Portage/Pardeeville Spring Green/Plain Tomahawk	[These were not eligible for the Medicare HPSA bonuses.] Lose J-1 visa waiver physician recruitment No development of new Rural Health Clinics eff. 11/3/11. *Existing RHCs are "grandfathered in" and not currently required to be in a designated HPSA.

Mental Health HPSAs Being Withdrawn:

GEOGRAPHIC HPSAs	BENEFITS THAT WILL BE LOST
Ashland County Buffalo County Lincoln County St. Croix County Waupaca County	Lose Medicare HPSA 10% bonus effective 1/1/12 Lose J-1 visa waiver physician recruitment *We will be reviewing these in the spring to see if they are eligible again.
LOW-INCOME POPULATION HPSAs	BENEFITS THAT WILL BE LOST
Green County	Lose J-1 visa waiver physician recruitment This is already in-eligible for federal loan repayment. *We will be reviewing these in the spring to see if they are eligible again.
CORRECTIONS FACILITIES	BENEFITS THAT WILL BE LOST
Columbia Lincoln Hills Taycheedah	Lose J-1 visa waiver physician recruitment These is already in-eligible for federal loan repayment.

Dental HPSAs Being Withdrawn:

LOW-INCOME POPULATION HPSAs	BENEFITS THAT WILL BE LOST
Buffalo County Green County Kewaunee County Lafayette County Oconto County Polk County Sauk County	No new impact. These is already in-eligible for federal loan repayment.

Other Important Notes about Withdrawals:

Each of these HPSAs has been reviewed by the Primary Care Office, and they did not meet federal HPSA criteria based on data provided at the time.
If clinics/providers in these withdrawn HPSAs believe that there have been significant changes in the number of physicians/psychiatrists in their service area, they can contact the PCO and request that their area be reviewed again. It will take at least 12 months to get to any new HPSA requests, because the PCO has to prioritize working on the shortened federal due dates to complete the every 4-year review of each current HPSA. To request a new review of a service area: http://www.dhs.wisconsin.gov/health/primarycare/RequestDesignation.htm
Federally qualified health centers - FQHCs (community health centers and tribal health centers) will continue to be eligible for National Health Service Corps loan repayment, since as FQHCs - they each have an automatic safety net facility HPSA.
Rural Health Clinics - If the federal Center for Medicare/Medicaid Services (CMS) re-publishes a rule for RHCs which requires that existing RHCs must have a current federal shortage designation, Wisconsin does have a new Governor's Shortage Designation which can help many RHCs retain a federal shortage designation and the PCO will have to review its HPSA work priorities to include this work for at-risk RHCs.

Last Revised: April 17, 2012

Wisconsin Department of Health Services