Program Announcement and Proposed Minimum Percentages for ``High Rate'' and ``Significant Increase in the Rate'' for Implementation of the General Statutory Funding Preference for Grants for Residency Training in Preventive Medicine for Fiscal Year 1995

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

Program Announcement and Proposed Minimum Percentages for ``High

Rate'' and ``Significant Increase in the Rate'' for Implementation of

the General Statutory Funding Preference for Grants for Residency

Training in Preventive Medicine for Fiscal Year 1995

The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announces

that applications will be accepted for fiscal year (FY) 1995 Grants for

Residency Training in Preventive Medicine under the authority of

section 763, title VII of the Public Health Service Act, as amended by

the Health Professions Education Extension Amendments of 1992, Pub. L.

102-408, dated October 13, 1992. Comments are invited on the proposed

minimum percentages for ``high rate'' and ``significant increase in the

rate'' for implementation of the general statutory funding preference.

Approximately $1,700,000 will be available in FY 1995 for this

program. It is anticipated that the $1,700,000 will be available to

support approximately 12 competing awards averaging $135,000.

Purpose

Section 763 of the Public Health Service Act authorizes the

Secretary to make grants to meet the costs of projects--

(1) to plan and develop new residency training programs and to

maintain or improve existing residency training programs in preventive

medicine and dental public health; and

(2) to provide financial assistance to residency trainees enrolled

in such programs.

This program announcement is limited to residency training programs

in preventive medicine.

The period of Federal support will not exceed 3 years.

Eligibility

To be eligible for a Grant for Residency Training in Preventive

Medicine, the applicant must be an accredited public or private

nonprofit school of allopathic or osteopathic medicine or a school of

public health located in a State. Also, an applicant must demonstrate

that it has, or will have by the end of 1 year of grant support, full-

time faculty with training and experience in the fields of preventive

medicine and support from other faculty members trained in public

health and other relevant specialties and disciplines. To receive

support, programs must meet the requirements of regulations as set

forth in 42 CFR part 57, subpart EE.

Project Requirements

A project supported by this grant program must be conducted in

accordance with the following requirements:

(a) Each project must have a project director who works at the

grantee institution on an appointment consistent with other major

departments, heads or will head the unit, and has relevant training and

experience in preventive medicine.

(b) Each project must have an appropriate administrative and

organizational plan and appropriate staff and facility resources for

the achievement of stated objectives.

(c) Each project must systematically evaluate the educational

program, including the performance and competence of trainees and

faculty, the administration of the program, and the degree to which

program and educational objectives are met.

(d) All field experiences must be supervised by a qualified faculty

member.

(e) All applicants must either demonstrate an increase in minority

and disadvantaged residents or show evidence of efforts to recruit

minority and disadvantaged residents.

National Health Objectives for the Year 2000

The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the

health promotion and disease prevention objectives of Healthy People

2000, a PHS led national activity for setting priority areas. This

program is related to the priority area of Health Promotion and

Preventive Services. Potential applicants may obtain a copy of Healthy

People 2000 (Full Report; Stock No. 017-001-00474-0) or Healthy People

2000 (Summary Report; Stock No. 017-001-00473-1) through the

Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington,

D.C. 20402-9325 (Telephone 202-783-3238).

Education and Service Linkage

As part of its long-range planning, HRSA will be targeting its

efforts to strengthening linkages between U.S. Public Health Service

education programs and programs which provide comprehensive primary

care services to the underserved.

Smoke-Free Workplace

The Public Health Service strongly encourages all grant recipients

to provide a smoke-free workplace and promote the non-use of all

tobacco products. This is consistent with the PHS mission to protect

and advance the physical and mental health of the American people.

Review Criteria

The review of applications will take into consideration the

following criteria:

1. The potential effectiveness of the proposed project in carrying

out the training purposes of section 763 of the PHS Act.

2. The extent of responsiveness to the project requirements.

3. The administrative and management capability of the applicant

[[Page 4424]] to carry out the proposed project in a cost-effective

manner.

5. The degree to which the applicant demonstrates institutional

commitment to the proposed program.

6. The history of the program including number of residents who

successfully completed the program.

Other Considerations

In addition, the following funding factors may be applied in

determining funding of approved applications:

A funding preference is defined as the funding of a specific

category or group of approved applications ahead of other categories or

groups of approved applications.

A funding priority is defined as the favorable adjustment of

aggregate review scores of individual approved applications when

applications meet specified criteria.

It is not required that applicants request consideration for a

funding factor. Applications which do not request consideration for

funding factors will be reviewed and given full consideration for

funding.

Statutory Funding Preference

As provided in section 791(a) of the PHS Act, preference will be

given to qualified applicants that

(1) have a high rate for placing graduates in practice settings

having the principal focus of serving residents of medically

underserved communities; or

(2) have achieved, during the 2-year period preceding the fiscal

year for which an award is sought, a significant increase in the rate

of placing graduates in such settings.

This preference will only be applied to applications that rank

above the 20th percentile of proposals recommended for approval by the

peer review group.

Proposed Minimum Percentages for ``High Rate'' and ``Significant

Increase in the Rate''

``High rate'' is defined as a minimum of 25 percent of graduates in

academic year 1992-93 or academic year 1993-94, whichever is greater,

who spend at least 50 percent of their worktime in clinical practice in

the specified settings. Graduates who are providing care in a medically

underserved community as a part of a fellowship or other educational

experience can be counted.

``Significant increase in the rate'' means that, between academic

years 1992-93 and 1993-94, the rate of placing graduates in the

specified settings has increased by a minimum of 50 percent and that

not less than 15 percent of graduates from the most recent years are

working in these settings.

Additional information concerning the implementation of this

preference has been published in the Federal Register at 59 FR 15743,

dated April 4, 1994.

Established Funding Priorities

The following funding priorities were established, after public

comment (53 FR 46506, dated November 17, 1988 and 56 FR 46798, dated

September 16, 1991), and are being extended in FY 1995. In the funding

of approved applications, a funding priority will be given to projects

which will:

1. Conduct residency training in areas of general preventive

medicine or public health.

2. Enroll at least four residents in the academic year and at least

four residents in the field year with evidence provided that the

projected number can be realized from a current or projected applicant

pool.

3. Propose to provide educational experiences to demonstrate to

residents the provision of primary care/preventive services for

underserved populations.

Additional Information

Interested persons are invited to comment on the proposed minimum

percentages for ``high rate'' and ``significant increase in the rate''

for implementation of the general statutory funding preference. The

comment period is 30 days. All comments received on or before February

22, 1995 will be considered before the final minimum percentages for

``high rate'' and ``significant increase in the rate'' for

implementation of the general statutory funding preference are

established. Written comments should be addressed to: Neil Sampson,

Director, Division of Associated, Dental, and Public Health

Professions, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and

Services Administration, Parklawn Building, Room 8-101, 5600 Fishers

Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857.

All comments received will be available for public inspection and

copying at the Division of Associated, Dental, and Public Health

Professions, Bureau of Health Professions, at the above address,

weekdays (Federal holidays excepted) between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and

5:00 p.m.

Information Requirements Provision

Under section 791(b) of the Act, the Secretary may make an award

under the Grants for Residency Training in Preventive Medicine only if

the applicant for the award submits to the Secretary the following

information:

1. A description of rotations or preceptorships for students, or

clinical training programs for residents, that have the principal focus

of providing health care to medically underserved communities.

2. The number of faculty on admissions committees who have a

clinical practice in community-based ambulatory settings in medically

underserved communities.

3. With respect to individuals who are from disadvantaged

backgrounds or from medically underserved communities, the number of

such individuals who are recruited for academic programs of the

applicant, the number of such individuals who are admitted to such

programs, and the number of such individuals who graduate from such

programs.

4. If applicable, the number of recent graduates who have chosen

careers in primary health care.

5. The number of recent graduates whose practices are serving

medically underserved communities.

6. A description of whether and to what extent the applicant is

able to operate without Federal assistance under this title.

Additional details concerning the implementation of this

information requirement have been published in the Federal Register at

58 FR 43642, dated August 17, 1993, and will be provided in the

application materials.

Application Requests

Requests for application materials and questions regarding grants

policy and business management issues should be directed to: Ms. Brenda

Selser, Grants Management Branch, Bureau of Health Professions, Health

Resources and Services Administration, Parklawn Building, Room 8C-26,

5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857, Telephone: (301) 443-

6960, FAX: (301) 443-6343.

Completed applications should be returned to the Grants Management

Branch at the above address.

If additional programmatic information is needed, please contact:

D. W. Chen, M.D., M.P.H., Division of Associated, Dental, and Public

Health Professions, Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and

Services Administration, Parklawn Building, Room 8C-09, 5600 Fishers

Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857, Telephone: (301) 443-6896, FAX: (301)

443-1164.

The deadline date for receipt of applications is March 10, 1995.

Applications will be considered to be ``on time'' if they are either:

(1) Received on or before the established deadline date, or

[[Page 4425]]

(2) Sent on or before the established deadline date and received in

time for orderly processing. (Applicants should request a legibly dated

U.S. Postal Service postmark or obtain a legibly dated receipt from a

commercial carrier or U.S. Postal Service. Private metered postmarks

shall not be acceptable as proof of timely mailing.)

Late applications not accepted for processing will be returned to

the applicant.

Paperwork Reduction Act

The standard application form PHS 6025-1, HRSA Competing Training

Grant Application, General Instructions and supplement for this program

have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the

Paperwork Reduction Act. The OMB Clearance Number is 0915-0060.

This program, Grants for Residency Training in Preventive Medicine,

is listed at 93.117 in the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance. It

is not subject to the provisions of Executive Order 12372,

Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs (as implemented through 45

CFR part 100). This program is not subject to the Public Health System

Reporting Requirements.

Dated: January 17, 1995.

Ciro V. Sumaya,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 95-1554 Filed 1-20-95; 8:45 am]

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