By Maria Marabito and Christopher A Scannell, MD, PhD | Healio

A project that restructured primary care health professional shortage area designations could improve the distribution of primary care clinicians and resources in the United States, according to a recent analysis in JAMA Network Open.

Despite government incentives, the distribution of primary care physicians in the U.S. remains unequal in rural vs. urban areas.

The Shortage Designation Modernization Project (SDMP) was implemented in 2014 as part of the Affordable Care Act to streamline often inaccurate designations of PCP supply, Christopher A. Scannell, MD, PhD, a primary care physician and recent graduate of the Veterans Association University of California, Los Angeles, National Clinician Scholars Program, and colleagues wrote. Primary care health professional shortage areas (PC-HPSAs) prior to the project were often designated improperly due to time-intensive documentation.

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