Index of Medical Underservice
Index of Medical Underservice
An index created by the US Department of Health and Human Services based on data on a medical service area of the USA to obtain a score for the area. The IMU scale is a percentage from 0 to 100: a score of 0% represents a completely underserved area; 100% represents best served/least underserved. Under established criteria, any service area with an IMU of ≤ 62.0% qualifies as a medically underserved area.The IMU involves four variables: ratio of primary medical care physicians per 1,000 population; infant mortality rate; percentage of the population with incomes below the poverty level; and percentage of the population age 65 or over.