In the future, we hope to notify providers by email when the Healthcare Provider Assessment needs to be reviewed or updated.   

You should expect a notification once every 2 years, unless a review of your county/area is requested prior to that time.   

Email addresses will be stored in a private TPCO database and will not be shared. 

Direct patient care time is determined to be face-to-face patient time in office and activities such as interpreting lab test, X-rays and physician consultations.  

It excludes inpatient care, administration, teaching or research time. This total should include direct care hours by the provider ONLY.   

Patient care time seen by an MA, PA, CNP, RN, etc. should not be included.  The maximum number of hours cannot exceed 40 hours. This total is used to calculate a Full-Time Equivalent.

This is a count of the number of full-time equivalent (FTE) non-Federal providers available to offer patient care to the area or population group.   

Federal employees and obligated-service members of the National Health Service Corps are excluded from the count.  

Detailed information on how the FTE is calculated and other criteria can be found on HRSA’s HPSA Designation Criteria webpage. 

Exclude any hours providing inpatient care from the weekly hours total in the ‘Direct Care Hours’ section.   

1. Select “Hospitalist” under  the ‘Physician Status’ section 

2. Enter the percentage of time the provider provides inpatient care.   

If the provider practices at multiple outpatient locations, fill out a separate form for each location. Calculate and enter Direct Care Hours for each location, not to exceed 40 hours overall. 

This information is collected to determine whether a population group in the specific geographic area qualifies for shortage designation.   

More information

Sliding Fee Scale (SFS) is a policy to provide health services regardless of the patient's ability to pay, or method of payment.   

Service is provided for free or a nominal charge if annual income is at or below the federal poverty level for their family size. A discount/sliding fee schedule is provided to patients whose annual income is up 200% of the federal poverty level for their family size.   

Signage must be visibly posted stating that patients will not be denied services based on inability to pay and that discounts are available based on family size and income.   

The Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG) are updated annually, at the end of January.  Information on Developing a Sliding Fee Scale (SFS) with examples can be obtained through the TPCO or in the National Health Service Corps Site Reference Guide.  

This is collected to calculate if there is an insufficient capacity in your area. If the area does not qualify for a Geographic HPSA, it may qualify for a Geographic High Needs HPSA if there is evidence of unusually high needs of the population or insufficient capacity of health care resources in the area. The high needs factors for primary care, dental and mental health, and the insufficient capacity factors for existing primary care and dental providers, are detailed in the criteria on HRSA’s HPSA Designation Criteria webpage.