The interactive map and table below display data for Alabama Physician Assistants (PAs), aggregated by primary care service area (PCSA). There are 79 PCSAs. Each PCSA is based on a centroid: a single general admission hospital in most cases, or a cluster of such hospitals in a few large urban areas, or the center of a small town without a hospital in a few rural cases. The PCSA corresponding to the centroid consists of the region of the state that is closer to that centroid than any other, as measured by drive time through the road network. The centroids are distributed throughout the state so that the PCSAs generally correspond to drive times of 30 minutes or less to the centroids. Like the counties, the PCSAs partition the state.

Map

In the interactive map below, the base layer consists of the PCSAs. The PA layer can be added as an overlay using the layer control on the map.

Tables

PCSA Table

The interactive table below displays data on Alabama PAs aggregated by PCSA. Click on rows in the table to see the corresponding PCSAs highlighted in the map above.

Of the 79 service areas, 33 (42%) have no physician assistants; all but one (Prattville) is rural. The five urban service areas of Birmingham, Mobile, Huntsville, Montgomery, and Dothan have 322 of the 505 PAs (64%).

Summary by Type

The interactive table below displays data on Alabama PAs aggregated by PCSA type (urban or rual). Click on a row in the table to see the corresponding PCSAs highlighted in the map above.