14922 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 60 / Friday, March 28, 1997 / Notices

Availability of Funds for the

Community Scholarship Programs

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services

Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of available funds.

SUMMARY: The Health Resources and

Services Administration (HRSA)

announces the availability of

approximately $290,000 under section

338L of the Public Health Service (PHS)

Act for competing and project period

renewal Grants to States for Community

Scholarship Programs (CSP).

The purpose of the CSP is to enable

States to increase the availability of

primary health care in urban and rural

federally designated health professional

shortage areas (HPSAs) by assisting

community organizations to provide

scholarships for the education of

individuals to serve as health

professionals in these communities.

The PHS is committed to achieving

the health promotion and disease

prevention objectives of Healthy People

2000, a PHS-led national activity. This

grant program is related to the objectives

of improving access to and availability

of primary health care services for all

Americans, especially the underserved

populations. 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 number 202–783–3238).

PHS strongly encourages all grant

recipients to provide a smoke-free

workplace and promote the non-use of

all tobacco products. In addition, Public

Law 103–227, the Pro-Children Act of

1994, prohibits smoking in certain

facilities (or in some cases, any portion

of a facility) in which regular or routine

education, library, day care, health care

or early childhood development

services are provided to children.

DUE DATES: Applications are due May

15, 1997. Applications will be

considered to have met the deadline if

they are (1) received on or before the

deadline date; or (2) postmarked 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 receipt from a commercial

carrier. Private metered postmarks will

not be acceptable as proof of timely

mailing. Late applications not accepted

for processing will be returned to the

applicant.

ADDRESS: Application materials may be

obtained from, and completed

applications should be returned to: Mr.

Lawrence R. Poole, Acting Grants

Management Officer, Bureau of Primary

Health Care (BPHC), 4350 East-West

Highway, 11th Floor, Bethesda,

Maryland 20814, (301) 594–4250. The

Grants Management staff is available to

provide assistance on business

management issues. Applications for

these grants will be made on PHS Form

5161–1 with revised face sheet DHHS

Form 424, as approved by the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) under

control number 0937–0189.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

general program information and

technical assistance, please contact

Sharley L. Chen, Division of

Scholarships and Loan Repayments,

BPHC, HRSA, 4350 East-West Highway,

10th Floor, Bethesda, Maryland 20814,

at (301) 594–4400.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In FY

1997, approximately $290,000 will be

awarded for 11–12 new and competing

continuation grants ranging from $5,000

to $100,000 for a 12-month budget

period and up to a 3-year project period.

Under this program, States enter into

agreements with public or private

nonprofit community organizations

located in federally designated HPSAs.

These organizations will recruit

qualified residents of their communities

and provide scholarships to them to

become physicians, certified nurse

practitioners, certified nurse midwives,

or physician assistants based on the

needs of the communities.

This grant program is intended to be

consistent with the efforts of the

National Health Service Corps (NHSC)

Scholarship Program, NHSC Loan

Repayment Program and NHSC State

Loan Repayment Programs to meet the

needs of underserved populations in

federally designated HPSAs through the

placement of primary care practitioners.

For purposes of this program, the term

‘‘primary health care’’ means health

services regarding family medicine,

general internal medicine, general

pediatrics, or obstetrics and gynecology,

that are provided by physicians,

certified nurse practitioners, certified

nurse midwives, or physician assistants.

The Secretary is required by statute

(Section 338L(l)(3) of the PHS Act) to

ensure that, to the extent practicable,

not less than 50 percent of the amount

appropriated will be in the aggregate

expended by the States for making

grants to community organizations that

are located in rural federally designated

HPSAs.

Eligibility Requirements

In order for a State to receive a grant

under this program, the State must:

1. Receive funding for at least one

grant, cooperative agreement, or

contract under any provisions of the

PHS Act other than section 338L for the

fiscal year for which the State is

applying;

2. Agree that the grant program will

be administered directly by a single

State agency;

3. Agree to make grants to community

organizations located in federally

designated HPSAs in order to assist

those community organizations in

providing scholarships to individuals

enrolled or accepted for enrollment as

full-time students in health profession

schools approved by the Secretary of

Health and Human Services for

purposes of the CSP;

4. Agree that 40 percent of the total

costs of the scholarships will be paid

from the Federal grant made to the

State; and

5. Agree that 60 percent of the total

costs of the scholarships will be paid

from non-Federal contributions made in

cash by the State and the community

organization through which the

scholarship is provided.

a. The State must make available

through these cash contributions not

less than 15 percent nor more than 25

percent of the scholarship costs.

b. The community organization must

make available through these cash

contributions not less than 35 percent

nor more than 45 percent of the

scholarship costs.

c. Non-Federal contributions provided

in cash by the State and community

organization (as described in a and b

above) may not include any amounts

provided by the Federal Government to

the State, or community organization

involved, or to any other entity. NonFederal contributions required may be

provided directly by the State and

community organization involved, and

may be provided through donations

from public and private entities. States

should be aware, however, that

donations from providers may be

subject to provisions of Public Law 102–

234, the Medicaid Voluntary

Contribution and Provider-Specific Tax

Amendments of 1991.

Scholarship Requirements

To receive a grant, the State must

agree that it will award a grant to a

community organization for

scholarships only if:

1. The individual who is to receive

the scholarship under a contract is a

resident of a federally designated HPSA
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 60 / Friday, March 28, 1997 / Notices 14923

in which the community organization is

located and will provide primary health

care services for:

a. A number of years equal to the

number of years for which the

scholarship is provided, or for a period

of 2 years, whichever period is greater;

or

b. Such greater period of time as the

individual and the community

organization may agree.

2. The individual agrees, while

enrolled in a health professions school

as a full-time student, to maintain an

acceptable level of academic standing at

the school (as determined by the school

in accordance with regulations issued

by the Secretary pursuant to section

338A (f)(1)(B) (iii) of the PHS Act);

3. The individual and the community

organization agree that the scholarship:

a. Will be expended only for tuition

expenses, other reasonable educational

expenses, reasonable living expenses

incurred while in attendance at the

school, and payment to the individual

of a monthly stipend of not more than

the amount authorized for NHSC

scholarship recipients under section

338A(g)(1)(B) of the PHS Act; and

b. Will not, for any year of such

attendance for which the scholarship is

provided, be in an amount exceeding

the total amount required for the year

for the purposes indicated in paragraph

(a) above.

4. The individual agrees to meet the

educational and certification or

licensure requirements necessary to

become a primary care physician,

certified nurse practitioner, certified

nurse midwife, or physician assistant in

the State in which the individual is to

practice under the contract; and,

5. The individual agrees that, in

providing primary health care pursuant

to the scholarship, he/she:

a. Will not, in the case of an

individual seeking care, discriminate on

the basis of the ability of the individual

to pay for such care or on the basis that

payment for such care will be made

pursuant to the programs established in

Titles XVIII (Medicare) or XIX

(Medicaid) of the Social Security Act;

and,

b. Will accept assignment under

section 1842(b)(3)(B)(ii) of the Social

Security Act for all services for which

payment may be made under Part B of

Title XVIII, and will enter into an

appropriate agreement with the State

agency that administers the State plan

for medical assistance under Title XIX

to provide service to individuals

entitled to medical assistance under the

plan.

Evaluation Criteria

For new and competing continuation

grants the following criteria will be used

to evaluate applications: (a) The

appropriateness of the description and

documentation of the State’s need for

the grant; (b) The adequacy of the State’s

methodology for selecting community

organizations to participate in the grant

and the overall impact that the

community organizations’ participation

will have on addressing the State’s

primary health care health professional

needs; (c) The extent to which the

State’s and community’s recruitment

plans are consistent with the State’s

plans for meeting the needs of the

community’s primary care system; (d)

The appropriateness and documentation

of community commitment with the

grant; (e) The extent to which the CSP

will coordinate with other State

programs designed to alleviate need in

HPSAs; (f) The appropriateness of the

State’s plan to administer and manage

the grant, including the credentials of

the employees to be involved and their

relevant program experience; (g) The

adequacy of the State’s proposed

procedure for monitoring the scholar’s

fulfillment or breach of the CSP

contract; (h) The appropriateness of the

State’s plans for providing waivers and

suspensions; (i) The soundness of the

budget and the budget justification for

assuring effective utilization of grant

funds; (j) The adequacy of a State’s

assurance that sufficient contributions

are available; (k) The reasonableness of

the scholarship levels proposed given

the cost of health professions programs

and the anticipated State and

community resources for scholarship

funding; (l) The adequacy of the

description of the State’s proposed ratio

and costs of scholarships for both urban

and rural federally designated HPSAs;

and (m) The validity, reliability, and

methodological soundness of the State

applicant’s internal monitoring and

evaluation plan for grants.

Other Grant Information

The CSP is subject to the provisions

of Executive Order 12372, as

implemented by 45 CFR part 100, which

allows States the option of setting up a

system for reviewing applications from

within their States for assistance under

certain Federal programs. The

application package for this program

will include a list of States with review

systems and the single point of contact

(SPOC) in each State for the review.

Applicants (other than federallyrecognized Indian tribal governments)

should contact their State SPOCs as

early as possible to alert them to the

prospective applications and receive

any necessary instructions on the State

process. The due date for State process

recommendations is 60 days after the

application deadline. The BPHC does

not guarantee that it will accommodate

or explain its response to State process

recommendations received after that

date. Grants will be administered in

accordance with HHS regulations in 45

CFR part 92. The OMB Catalog of

Federal Domestic Assistance number for

this program is 93.931.

Dated: March 24, 1997.

Claude Earl Fox,

Acting Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97–7844 Filed 3–27–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–15–P

Availability of Funds To Provide

Technical and Non-Financial

Assistance to Federally Funded

Migrant Health Centers on

Environmental and Occupational

Health Services for Migrant and

Seasonal Farmworkers

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services

Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability of funds,

CFDA #: 93.129.

SUMMARY: The Health Resources and

Services Administration (HRSA)

anticipates that approximately $305,000

will be available in FY 1997 to support

two cooperative agreements for the

purpose of providing technical and nonfinancial assistance to Migrant Health

Centers (MHCs) receiving funding under

Section 330(g) of the Public Health

Service (PHS) Act. These cooperative

agreements will provide environmental

and occupational health services to

migrant and seasonal farmworkers

(MSFWs) and their families. These

cooperative agreements will be awarded

under section 330(k) of the PHS Act (42

U.S.C. 254b(k)) with a budget period of

one year and a project period of up to

three years.

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

health priorities. These cooperative

agreements are related to the objectives

cited for special populations,

particularly socio-economically

depressed minorities and other

underserved populations, which

constitute a significant portion of the

migrant and seasonal farmworker

(MSFW) population. Potential

applicants may obtain a copy of Healthy

People 2000 (Full Report; Stock No.

017–001–00474–0) or Healthy People