title: Modeling the mental health workforce in Washington State: using state licensing data to examine provider supply in rural and urban areas.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Ensuring an adequate mental health provider supply in rural and urban areas requires accessible methods of identifying provider types, practice locations, and practice productivity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To identify mental health shortage areas using existing licensing and survey data.
  
  
  METHODS
  The 1998-1999 Washington State Department of Health files on credentialed health professionals linked with results of a licensure renewal survey, 1990 US Census data, and the results of the 1990-1992 National Comorbidity Survey were used to calculate supply and requirements for mental health services in 2 types of geographic units in Washington state-61 rural and urban core health service areas and 13 larger mental health regions. Both the number of 9 types of mental health professionals and their full-time equivalents (FTEs) per 100,000 population measured supply in the health service areas and mental health regions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Notable shortages of mental health providers existed throughout the state, especially in rural areas. Urban areas had 3 times the psychiatrist FTEs per 100,000 and more than 1.5 times the nonpsychiatrist mental health provider FTEs per 100,000 as rural areas. More than 80% of rural health service areas had at least 10% fewer psychiatrist FTEs and nonpsychiatrist mental health provider FTEs than the state ratio (10.4 FTEs per 100,000 and 306.5 FTEs per 100,000, respectively). Ten of the 13 mental health regions were more than 10% below the state ratio of psychiatrist FTEs per 100,000.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  States gathering a minimum database at licensure renewal can identify area-specific mental health care shortages for use in program planning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. lmb@fammed.washington.edu
authors.forename: Laura-Mae
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Baldwin
authors.forename: Miriam M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Patanian
authors.forename: Eric H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Larson
authors.forename: Denise M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Lishner
authors.forename: Larry B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Mauksch
authors.forename: Wayne J
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Katon
authors.forename: Edward
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: L Gary
authors.initials: LG
authors.lastname: Hart
mesh_terms: D005843:Geography; D006285:Health Planning / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008004:Licensure / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008605:Mental Health Services; D011365:Professional Practice Location; D019035:Rural Health Services; D019037:Urban Health Services; D014861:Washington; D000078329:Workforce