California Rural Health Policy Council

California Rural Health Policy Council

Rural Health Policy Council
California's Focal Point for Rural Health - About US

Definitions

Frontier MSSA

A frontier Medical Service Study Area is the same as a rural MSSA adopted by the California Health Manpower Policy Commission, but with a smaller population density of less than 11 persons per square mile.

Medical Service Study Area:

A Medical Service Study Area[ MSSA] is composed of one or more complete census tracts. As a general rule, MSSAs are deemed to be "rational service areas [RSAs]" for purposes of designating health professional shortage areas [HPSAs] , medically underserved areas [MUAs] or medically underserved populations [MUPs].

Metropolitan Statistical Area

A Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is one or more large population centers and adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration. Each MSA must contain either a place with a minimum population of 50,000 of Census Bureau-defined urbanized area and a total MSA population of at least 100,000 (75,000 in New England). An MSA comprises one or more central counties and may include one or more outlying counties that have close economic and social relationships with the central county.

Rural Urban Commuting Area (RUCA)

The Office of Rural Health Policy has funded the development of the Rural Urban Commuting Area Codes (RUCAs), by the WWAMI Rural Research Center at the University of Washington and the Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service, to designate "Rural" areas within MAs. All Census Tracts within MAs with RUCA codes 4 through 10 are considered rural for the purposes of Rural Health grants. In addition, Census Tracts within MAs with RUCA codes 2 and 3 that are larger than 400 square miles and have population density of less than 30 people per square mile are also considered rural. Organizations whose headquarters are in the designated census tracts are eligible to apply for Rural Health grants, provided they meet all other requirements. More information on RUCAs is available at http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/Rurality/RuralUrbanCommutingAreas/ or at http://www.fammed.washington.edu/wwamirhrc/rucas/rucas.html

Rural MSSA

Rural MSSA is defined as a geographic area with a population density of less than 250 persons per square mile, and has no census-defined place within the area with a population in excess of 50,000. Only the population that is located within the MSSA is counted in determining the population of the census defined place.

Small County

"Small County" is a county with a population maximum of 200,000 residents. Not all "small" counties are purely rural, but often these small counties share the same challenges as completely rural areas. Therefore, this definition is more inclusive for rural counties than the greater than 200,000 population.

For additional information to determine facility shortage designations, shortage maps, and the advantage of a shortage designation, click here to our Shortage Area Page

 
Page last revise November 19, 2007 10:31 AM