Health Care Access - Primary Care Physicians Compared to Population Size
Summary Indicator Report Data View Options
Primary Care Providers per 1,000 Population by County, New Mexico, 2016
Primary Care Providers per 1,000 Population by Urban and Rural Counties, New Mexico, 2016
Why Is This Important?
The number in the population for every primary care provider represents the number of persons a single primary care provider is required to serve. Lower numbers represent better access to primary care. The federal government uses this metric as one of the considerations for a county to be designated a "health professional shortage area," or HPSA. The threshold for the population to provider ratio is 3,500 to 1 (3,000 to 1 if there are unusually high needs in the community). In other words, it is desirable for a county to maintain a ratio under 3,500.
Definition
The number of primary care providers per 1,000 persons in the population. A ratio of approximately 1.7 is the current benchmark for total primary care providers per 1,000 population.
Data Sources
- New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
(http://gps.unm.edu/) - New Mexico Health Care Workforce Committee, University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center
How the Measure is Calculated
| Numerator: | Number of primary care providers. |
| Denominator: | Number of persons in the population. |
Other Objectives
New Mexico Community Health Status Indicator (CHSI)
More Resources
[https://www.nmms.org/sites/default/files/images/nmhcwfc_2015report_final.pdf New Mexico Health Care Workforce Committee Report, 2015] [http://hsc.unm.edu/assets/doc/economic-development/nmhcwc-presentation-2016.PDF New Mexico Health Care Workforce Committee Report, 2016]