Mental Health Providers
The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Model of Health
Use the model to explore the measures of how long and how well we live and what shapes these trends. Select a measure in the diagram or browse the list of all measures.
Measures marked with an asterisk (*) are not included in summary calculations for Population Health and Well-being or Community Conditions.
About
Ratio of population to mental health providers. The 2025 Annual Data Release used data from 2024 for this measure.
Access to health care requires not only financial coverage but also access to providers. More than 122 million people lived in a Mental Health Professional Shortage Area as of December 2024.1 While the mental health parity aspects of the Affordable Care Act create increased coverage for mental health services, concerns such as difficulties in finding in-network providers and differences in the amount of cost-sharing between primary care and mental health care add to the issue of the mental health provider shortages, preventing many people from receiving care.2
The University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute Model of Health
Use the model to explore the measures of how long and how well we live and what shapes these trends. Select a measure in the diagram or browse the list of all measures.
Measures marked with an asterisk (*) are not included in summary calculations for Population Health and Well-being or Community Conditions.
Data and methods
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Data Source
CMS, National Provider Identification
The National Provider Identification (NPI) Registry enables you to search for a provider's National Plan and Provider Enumeration System (NPPES) information. All information produced by the NPI Registry is provided in accordance with the NPPES Data Dissemination Notice. Information in the NPI Registry is updated daily. You may run simple queries to retrieve this read-only data. For example, users may search for a provider by the NPI or legal business name.
Website to download data
For more detailed methodological information
Key Measure Methods
Mental Health Providers is a ratio
Mental Health Providers is the ratio of the population to mental health providers. The ratio represents the number of individuals served by one mental health provider in a county, if providers were equally distributed across the population. For example, if a county has a population of 50,000 and has 20 mental health providers, the county ratio would be: 2,500:1. The value on the right side of the ratio is always 1 or 0; 1 indicates that there is at least one mental health provider in the county, and zero indicates there are no registered mental health providers in the county.
The method for calculating Mental Health Providers has changed
With the 2015 Annual Data Release, marriage and family therapists and mental health providers that treat alcohol and other drug abuse were included in this measure.
Mental Health Providers has been corrected
We discovered an error in our method for identifying mental health providers that impacted the Annual Data Release between 2014-2016: we were including organizations as well as individual providers in each county. The correct estimates of the ratios for Mental Health Providers are now available in the Health Snapshots for 2015 and 2016 and in the downloadable data files. Unfortunately, the raw data file used to calculate Mental Health Providers for the 2014 Annual Data Release is not available at this time, so corrections cannot be provided.
Some data are suppressed
A missing value is reported for counties with population greater than 1,000 and 0 mental health providers.
Measure limitations
These data come from the National Provider Identification data file, which has some limitations. Providers who transmit electronic health records are required to obtain an identification number, but some providers may not obtain a number. While providers have the option of deactivating their identification number, some mental health professionals included in this list may no longer be practicing or accepting new patients. This may result in an overestimate of active mental health professionals in some communities. It is also true that mental health providers may be registered with an address in one county, while practicing in another county.
Left side of ratio
The left side of the ratio represents the county population.
Right side of ratio
The right side of the ratio represents the mental health providers corresponding to county population. Mental health providers are defined as psychiatrists, psychologists, licensed clinical social workers, counselors, marriage and family therapists, mental health providers that treat alcohol and other drug abuse, and advanced practice nurses specializing in mental health care.
Can This Measure Be Used to Track Progress
This measure should not be used to track progress. There are concerns that many providers who are no longer practicing continue to be listed in the data, resulting in an overestimate of the number of practicing providers. The methodology for this measure has changed. In order to better understand this estimate, confirming this data with additional sources of data at the local level is particularly valuable. Note: The correct estimates of the ratios for Mental Health Providers are now available on our 2015 and 2016 Health Snapshots and in the downloadable data files. Unfortunately, the raw data file used to calculate Mental Health Providers for the 2014 Annual Data Release is not available at this time, so corrections cannot be provided.
Finding More Data
Disaggregation means breaking data down into smaller, meaningful subgroups. Disaggregated data are often broken down by characteristics of people or where they live. Disaggregated data can reveal inequalities that are otherwise hidden. These data can be disaggregated by:
- Gender
- Subcounty Area
It is difficult to stratify this measure by population demographics.
References
- Bureau of Health Workforce, Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Designated health professional shortage areas statistics. First quarter of fiscal year 2025 designated HPSA quarterly summary. HRSA. December 31, 2024. Accessed February 7, 2025. https://data.hrsa.gov/Default/GenerateHPSAQuarterlyReport
- Rapfogel N. The behavioral health care affordability problem. Center for American Progress. 2022. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/the-behavioral-health-care-affordability-problem/