Regional and State Primary Care Associations

July 25, 2003

Dear Colleague:

Enclosed you will find a CD-Rom with the 2000 NACHC REACH data on the Underserved and Unserved. The data on the CD are specific to your state, and include demographic information as well as the number of underserved and unserved persons at the county level.

Demographic data, provided by The Lewin Group and based on Census Bureau data, provide estimates of the number of persons by poverty level, age, gender, race, and primary source of health insurance for each county in 2000. Several files on the CD-Rom are dedicated to providing these data. Underserved and unserved data are based on NACHC calculations of 1998 information, the most recent available, and extrapolated to 2000. Underserved data are based on medically underserved area (MUA) status. Counties may be designated as a whole or partial MUA, or not at all. The number of underserved for each county is based on the proportion of the county that is an MUA. For example, if a county has been designated a whole MUA, the number of underserved individuals is equal to the entire county population. If the county has been designated as 60% MUA (i.e., partial), then the number of underserved individuals is equal to 60% of the entire county population. Unserved data are based on Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) designations. Specifically, the number of unserved for each county is based on the ratio of one FTE county physician to 1500 population (1:1500). The county population leftover is the number of unserved. For example, a county with two FTE physicians and a population of 3300 has 300 unserved individuals.

Your state-specific CD-Rom includes the following files:

2000 REACH: provides the underserved and unserved data;
Lewin demographic methodology: description of the method used by The Lewin Group to develop estimates of the number of persons by demographic group and primary source of health insurance;
NACHC 2000 race: population by insurance status and poverty level, and by race;
NACHC 2000 female age: female population by insurance status and poverty level, and by age;
NACHC 2000 male age: male population by insurance status and poverty level, and by age; and
2000 demographics crosstabs: compilation of all demographic data.

For more information on REACH and other data available from NACHC, please contact Michelle Proser at or (202) 296-1960.

Sincerely,

Roger Schwartz Michelle Proser

Legislative Counsel and Research and Data Analyst

Director, State Affairs

2001 L Street, N.W. Suite 300 Washington, D.C. 20036 (202) 296-3800 FAX (202) 296-3526