Mission
To assist in targeting federal and local health care resources to areas that evidence a significant shortage of personal health services 

Program Description
The federal Medically Underserved Area (MUA) and Medically Underserved Populations (MUP) designations identify areas and populations that have limited access to personal health services.  Medically Underserved Populations (MUPs) may include groups of persons who face economic, cultural or linguistic barriers to health care; in the District, MUAs include groups of census tracts.

MUA/P designations are used to qualify for state/local and federal programs aimed at increasing health services to underserved areas and populations.  Programs (of relevance to DC) that rely on MUA/P designations include: DC’s Health Professional Loan Repayment, the J-1 Visa Waiver and the Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC)  programs.

MUA determinations are based on an Index of Medical Underservice (IMU) for a defined service area (i.e. group of census tracts which represent a neighborhood with similar socioeconomic and demographic characteristics).  IMU calculations rely on data on demographic indicators associated with underservice (i.e. poverty rate, age, infant mortality rate) and information on primary care providers in and/or accessible to the service area.  The IMU scale is from 0 to 100, where 0 represents completely underserved and 100 represents best-served or least underserved.

MUP designations are based on the same data elements and the same calculations that are used for MUAs; however, the demographic and provider data used for MUPs should be specific to the population to be designated (e.g. only data on providers that serve the population of interest should be included).  A score of 62 or less qualifies a population as medically underserved (MUP).

DC has a total of 9 MUAs encompassing 86 census tracts and no MUP designations.  Approximately 45% of the population of the District resides in a MUA.

Currently, MUA/P designations do not expire. Designation of new MUA/Ps requires collection of extensive information  on providers practicing in the areas of interest.  All applications for MUA/P designations must be submitted by the Primary Care Bureau.  Any entity interested in designating currently undesignated areas/populations as MUA/P should contact the Bureau.