California Office of Statewide Health Planning & Development

Medically Underserved Areas/MEDICALLY UNDERSERVED Populations (MUA/MUP)

Medically Underserved Areas or Medically Underserved Populations (MUAs/MUPs) are based on the evaluation of criteria established through federal regulation to identify geographic areas or population groups based on demographic data.

Criteria:

To qualify for designation, the area or population is scored on the basis of four criteria. For both MUA and MUP designation, an area with a total weighted value of 62 or less is considered eligible:

MUA designation requests,

1. Percentage of population at 100% below poverty;
2. Percentage of population over > 65;
3. Infant mortality rate; and
4. Primary care physicians per 1,000 population

OR

MUP designation requests,

1. Percentage of population at 100% below poverty;
2. Percentage of population over > 65;
3. Infant mortality rate; and
4. Primary care physicians serving the low-income population (200% poverty level) per 1,000 low-income population

Benefits of a MUA/MUP designation:

• Eligibility to develop Community Health Centers, Migrant Health Centers, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and FQHC Look-Alikes, and, Rural Health Clinic (RHC) Certification for MUAs only. The cost-based reimbursement of these programs is designed to enhance access to primary health care in medically underserved areas.
• Enhance federal grant eligibility.
• Medicare cap is higher.