63354 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 229 / Friday, November 28, 1997 / Notices

compliance with the Paperwork

Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C.

Chapter 35). To request a copy of the

clearance requests submitted to OMB for

review, call the HRSA Reports

Clearance Office on (301) 443–1129.

The following request has been

submitted to the Office of Management

and Budget for review under the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995:

Proposed Project: Deferment Request

Form for NHSC and NHH Scholarship

Programs (OMB NO. 0915–0179)

Extension, No Change

We are requesting an extension of the

OMB clearance for the Deferment

Request Form and associated reporting

requirements for the National Health

Service Corps (NHSC) Scholarship

Program and the Native Hawaiian

Health (NHH) Scholarship Program. The

NHSC/NHH Scholarship Programs are

authorized by Section 338A and Section

338K of the Public Health Service (PHS)

Act. The requirements for obligated

service, found in Section 338C of the

PHS Act, include provisions for

deferment of the service obligation

under certain circumstances.

Under these programs, allopathic

physicians, osteopathic physicians,

dentists, nurse practitioners, nurse

midwives, physician assistants, and, if

needed by the NHSC or NHH program,

students of other health professions

(including mental health professionals)

are offered the opportunity to enter into

a contractual agreement with the

Secretary under which the Public

Health Service agrees to pay the total

school tuition, required fees and a

stipend for living expenses. In

exchange, the scholarship recipient

agrees to provide full-time clinical

services at a site in a federally

designated Health Professions Shortage

Areas (HPSA) of the United States. NHH

scholarship recipients must be native

Hawaiians and are assigned to sites in

Hawaii. The minimum service

obligation is 2 years.

Once scholarship recipients have

completed their academic requirements,

the law requires that selected types of

recipients be allowed to defer their

service obligation in order to complete

an approved internship, residency, or

other advanced clinical training.

The Deferment Request Form

provides the information necessary for

considering the period and type of

training for which deferment of the

service obligation will be approved for

physicians and dentists.

In addition, these programs have two

other reporting requirements for which

no forms have been developed,

including:

(1) Individuals who are in a deferment

status are required to submit requests in

writing for modifications to the

deferment (e.g., extension of deferment

or change of residency programs); and

(2) Dentists, who can either begin their

service obligation immediately after

graduation or can be deferred for up to

three years, are required to notify the

program in writing of their intent to

request deferment.

The estimated burden on respondents

is as follows:

Type of report Number of

respondents

Responses

per respondent

Hours per

response

Total burden hours

Deferment Form ............................................................................................................... 600 1 .5 300

Requests for Change of Deferment and Letters of Intent ............................................... 100 1 1 100

Total ................................................................................................................... 700 .................... .................... 400

Written comments and

recommendations concerning the

proposed information collection should

be sent within 30 days of this notice to:

Laura Oliven, Human Resources and

Housing Branch, Office of Management

and Budget, New Executive Office

Building, Room 10235, Washington,

D.C. 20503.

Dated: November 21, 1997.

Jane Harrison,

Acting Director, Division of Policy Review

and Coordination.

[FR Doc. 97–31209 Filed 11–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services

Administration

Final Program Requirements and

Review Criteria for a Cooperative

Agreement for a Center for Health

Workforce Distribution Studies: A

Federal-State Partnership Cooperative

Agreement Program for Fiscal Year

1997

The Health Resources and Services

Administration (HRSA) announces that

applications will be accepted for a fiscal

year (FY) 1997 Cooperative Agreement

for a Center for Health Workforce

Distribution Studies: A Federal-State

Partnership Cooperative Agreement

Program. The cooperative agreement

will be funded under the authority of

section 792 (42 USC 295k) of the Public

Health Service Act, which authorizes

research on health professions

personnel.

Research and studies for this

cooperative agreement program will

focus on the workforce distributional

aspects of the legislation at the state

(one or a few states) level for allied

health personnel, dentists, nurses,

physicians, and public health personnel

as specified below.

Purpose

The purpose of this cooperative

agreement for a Center for Health

Workforce Distribution Studies is to

support research and analysis at the

State level for one State or a few States

only, including issues regarding the

impact of federal initiatives aimed at

improving the training of health

professionals and meeting national

workforce goals pertaining to:

(1) Allied health data and

distributional issues consistent with the

(1995) recommendations of the National

Commission on Allied Health and in

close coordination with the activities of

the Allied Health Data Collaborative

Project;

(2) Distribution of dentists, with

emphasis on trends relating to

educational background (for example,

those with postdoctoral training in

advanced general dentistry and/or

public health dentistry) and practice in

settings principally serving residents of

medically-underserved communities;
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 229 / Friday, November 28, 1997 / Notices 63355

(3) The designation of nursing

shortage areas at the State level and,

through a pilot exploration of a model

approach, build a methodologic bridge

to other states for applicability across

the Nation;

(4) The distribution of physicians,

with emphasis on underserved areas

and specialty services, including, for

example OB/GYN, maternal and child

health, general surgery, emergency

medicine, and mental health; and

addressing issues of substitution, using

available tools such as the HRSA/

Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr)

Integrated Requirements Model (IRM),

as applicable; and

(5) The establishment of

collaboration(s) between schools of

public health and state and local public

health agencies to assess public health

workforce supply and distribution and

to develop educational strategies to

address imbalances; and to develop the

nature of workforce planning for public

health personnel at the State level.

The cooperative agreement is to fund

either the establishment and the

operation of a new research center, or

the operation of an existing research

center, for the conduct of such research.

The center must conduct high-quality

research and disseminate findings to

colleagues and policymakers at the

institutional, Federal and State levels.

The successful applicant must have or

establish the Center for Health

Workforce Distribution Studies as an

identifiable entity. This must be more

than a set of discrete, investigatorinitiated research projects proposed in

one application. The center must have

a director, a coherent, widelyrecognized research agenda and

researchers who function as a team. The

principal investigator must be an

experienced researcher who will be

primarily responsible for the

organization and operation of the center

and will provide research leadership.

The center’s researchers must

collectively possess multidisciplinary

skills, and have experience in health

services research. There must be

sufficient core staff with significant time

commitments to the center, although the

center will of necessity share common

resources with other components of the

applicant institution, including

technical, clerical, and administrative

personnel, and library and computer

resources.

The cooperative agreement funds will

be available to provide basic support for

the center, including: the development

and implementation of the center’s

research agenda, administrative and

research staff support, researcher time

(although not necessarily 100% of

researcher time), and dissemination of

center research products through

articles in peer-reviewed journals as

well as center-sponsored publications.

This cooperative agreement must not be

the sole source of support for this type

of enterprise. The applicant institution

must demonstrate a commitment

(including a matching contribution—see

‘‘Program Requirements’’ below) to

support the organizational and

management structure of the center, and

its investigators should seek other funds

for support of its research agenda.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants include public and

non-profit private entities. The

applicant must bring together allied/

dental/ medical/nursing/public health

schools and State agencies, must have

experience in all five component areas,

the assessment and evaluation of unmet

need/underserved areas, and in issues of

non-physician provider substitution,

and must have access to the allied and

public health workforce data base in the

State. Development of a methodology

for the assessment of nursing shortage

areas and of public health requirements

and supply in a State must involve a

State agency.

A notice was published in the Federal

Register at 62 FR 39532 on July 23,

1997, proposing program requirements

and review criteria for this program. No

comments were received within the 30

day comment period. Therefore, the

program requirements and review

criteria remain as proposed.

Final Program Requirements

The award recipient’s institution must

share in the cost of the program as

follows: For each year funds are

awarded under this program, the

matching contribution shall be at least

one-third of the amount of the Federal

award for that year. Up to 50% of the

recipient’s matching contribution may

be in the form of in-kind donations of

faculty time, staff time, use of

computers or other shared resources.

Applicants are urged to submit

applications that address specific

objectives of HRSA/BHPr. Health

workforce surveillance reveals

significant gaps in the Nation’s health

workforce ability to meet the

population’s needs. In some cases, these

gaps are exacerbated by market forces.

The BHPr attempts to address these in

its four health workforce goals to

improve the distribution, diversity,

supply, and competence/quality.

Specifically:

Distribution: there has been little

progress in reducing the number of

underserved areas, and access to

generalist providers varies widely across

states and counties;

Diversity: few health professions

reflect the diversity of the Nation’s

population, also there is strong evidence

that underrepresented minority

providers are more likely to serve

vulnerable populations;

Supply: shortages of some allied and

public health providers coincide with a

surfeit of specialist physicians;

Competence: most training is

hospital-based and ill-suited to

ambulatory health care delivery, which

occurs in an increasingly managed care

environment and requires skills in

providing cost-effective quality care.

Also, an aging population created an

unmet need for geriatric training.

Final Review Criteria

Applications for this cooperative

agreement will be evaluated on the basis

of the following criteria:

(1) The qualifications and

achievements of the proposed center’s

principal investigator and senior

researchers, including level of

productivity and quality of research in

health workforce issues;

(2) Demonstration of an

understanding of the particular subject

areas of health professions workforce

research that are relevant to Federal

policies and evidence of ability to

manage research in such areas;

(3) The appropriateness of the time

commitments of the principal

investigator and senior researchers;

(4) The strength of the applicant’s

plan to actively promote dissemination

of research findings to all health

professionals involved in health

services research and to relevant

national and state policymakers;

(5) The appropriateness of the

proposed budget;

(6) The planned level of commitment

to the center from the applicant

institution, as evidenced by specific

plans for the type of financial support

that will be offered, and for support of

the organizational structure of the

center. Evidence of a prior institutional

commitment to generalizable research in

health workforce studies will also be

sought;

(7) The past success and future

potential of the proposed center’s

researchers in receiving funding from

other sources; and

(8) The likely effectiveness of the

organizational and management

arrangements to operate the proposed

center.

Additional Information

If additional programmatic

information is needed, please contact:
63356 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 229 / Friday, November 28, 1997 / Notices

Herbert Traxler, Ph.D., Office of

Research and Planning, Bureau of

Health Professions, Health Resources

and Services Administration, Parklawn

Building, Room 8–47, 5600 Fishers

Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857,

Telephone: (301) 443–6662 or 3148,

FAX: (301) 443–8003, EMAIL:

htraxler@hrsa.dhhs.gov.

Dated: November 21, 1997.

Claude Earl Fox,

Acting Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97–31224 Filed 11–26–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services

Administration

HIV Care Grant Program

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services

Administration.

ACTION: Notice of grants made to States

and territories.

SUMMARY: The Health Resources and

Services Administration (HRSA)

announces that fiscal year 1997 funds

have been awarded to States and

territories (hereinafter States) for the

HIV Care Grant Program. Although these

funds have already been awarded to the

States, HRSA is publishing this notice to

inform the general public of the

existence of the funds. In addition,

HRSA determined that it would be

useful for the general public to be aware

of the structure of the HIV Care Grant

Program and the statutory requirements

governing the use of the funds.

Funds will be used by the States to

improve the quality, availability, and

organization of health care and support

services for individuals and families

with HIV disease. The HIV Care Grant

Program is authorized by Title II of the

Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS

Resources Emergency (CARE) Act of

1990, Public Law 101–381, as amended

by the Ryan White CARE Act

amendments of 1996, Public Law 104–

146, which amended Title XXVI of the

Public Health Service Act. Funds were

appropriated under Public Law 104–

208.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Individuals interested in the HIV Care

Grant Program should contact the

appropriate office in their State, and

may obtain information on their State

contact by calling Anita Eichler, M.P.H.,

Director, Division of Service Systems, at

(301) 443–6745.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Availability of Funds

A total of $230,895,000 was made

available for the Title II HIV Care Grant

Program. These funds have been allotted

to the States according to a formula that

is determined by multiplying the

amount appropriated for Title II, less

any set-asides, by the distribution factor

determined for the State. In addition to

the Care Grants, $167,000,000 was also

awarded for the AIDS Drug Assistance

Program (ADAP) to help States increase

the number of HIV patients receiving

drugs, including combination therapies

and new drugs, and to help pay for their

increasing costs. Below are two tables.

The first shows the distribution of funds

for the Care Grant Program by State. The

second shows the distribution of funds

for the ADAP by State.

CARE GRANT AWARDS

State Amount

Alabama ................................ $2,838,265

Alaska ................................... 250,000

Arizona .................................. 2,045,462

Arkansas ............................... 1,395,995

California ............................... 31,548,137

Colorado ............................... 2,127,037

Connecticut ........................... 3,330,036

Delaware ............................... 1,322,724

District of Columbia .............. 2,877,431

Florida ................................... 23,416,364

Georgia ................................. 7,214,630

Hawaii ................................... 1,158,830

Idaho ..................................... 250,000

Illinois .................................... 6,606,747

Indiana .................................. 2,928,889

Iowa ...................................... 624,726

Kansas .................................. 997,168

Kentucky ............................... 1,415,277

Louisiana ............................... 4,252,105

Maine .................................... 489,755

Maryland ............................... 5,923,285

Massachusetts ...................... 4,217,542

Michigan ................................ 3,405,961

Minnesota ............................. 1,037,082

Mississippi ............................. 1,879,965

Missouri ................................. 2,620,796

Montana ................................ 136,900

Nebraska ............................... 499,395

Nevada .................................. 2,043,859

New Hampshire .................... 314,204

New Jersey ........................... 11,931,930

New Mexico .......................... 805,975

New York .............................. 34,972,364

North Carolina ....................... 4,803,070

North Dakota ......................... 100,000

Ohio ...................................... 4,739,289

Oklahoma .............................. 1,554,105

Oregon .................................. 1,601,172

Pennsylvania ......................... 7,686,648

Rhode Island ......................... 1,054,708

South Carolina ...................... 4,509,988

South Dakota ........................ 100,000

Tennessee ............................ 3,906,471

Texas .................................... 14,636,207

Utah ...................................... 852,251

Vermont ................................ 250,000

Virginia .................................. 5,235,047

CARE GRANT AWARDS—Continued

State Amount

Washington ........................... 2,830,277

West Virginia ......................... 492,843

Wisconsin .............................. 1,755,689

Wyoming ............................... 100,000

Guam .................................... 11,608

Puerto Rico ........................... 7,605,266

Virgin Islands ........................ 191,525

AIDS DRUG ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

AWARDS

[State/Territory—FY 1997 Grant Award]

Alabama $1,329,706

Alaska ................................... 112,917

Arizona .................................. 1,450,752

Arkansas ............................... 654,013

California ............................... 26,371,892

Colorado ............................... 1,607,932

Connecticut ........................... 2,790,394

Delaware ............................... 619,686

District of Columbia .............. 2,613,341

Florida ................................... 17,898,632

Georgia ................................. 5,125,509

Hawaii ................................... 542,903

Idaho ..................................... 112,917

Illinois .................................... 5,427,222

Indiana .................................. 1,372,162

Iowa ...................................... 292,680

Kansas .................................. 568,196

Kentucky ............................... 663,046

Louisiana ............................... 2,717,224

Maine .................................... 229,446

Maryland ............................... 5,025,239

Massachusetts ...................... 3,310,714

Michigan ................................ 2,408,285

Minnesota ............................. 841,003

Mississippi ............................. 880,749

Missouri ................................. 1,965,652

Montana ................................ 64,137

Nebraska ............................... 233,963

Nevada .................................. 975,533

New Hampshire .................... 214,993

New Jersey ........................... 9,448,859

New Mexico .......................... 377,593

New York .............................. 29,381,796

North Carolina ....................... 2,250,201

North Dakota ......................... 24,390

Ohio ...................................... 2,577,208

Oklahoma .............................. 728,086

Oregon .................................. 1,148,136

Pennsylvania ......................... 5,258,299

Rhode Island ......................... 494,123

South Carolina ...................... 2,112,895

South Dakota ........................ 38,843

Tennessee ............................ 1,830,152

Texas .................................... 11,061,308

Utah ...................................... 399,273

Vermont ................................ 92,140

Virginia .................................. 2,881,631

Washington ........................... 2,067,728

West Virginia ......................... 247,513

Wisconsin .............................. 823,839

Wyoming ............................... 37,940

Guam .................................... N/A

Puerto Rico ........................... 5,315,209

Virgin Islands ........................ N/A

Total ............................... $167,000,000