Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 22, 2001 / Notices 28189

Number (HICN) that matches against the

SSN and date of birth provided by

DEERS. The HICN uniquely identifies a

Medicare eligible individual. Since

Medicare remains the primary payer for

many retiree health services, TRICARE

will need this information to determine

when Medicare has already paid for

retiree benefits, so that TRICARE only

pays when appropriate. HCFA will also

provide the Medicare Part A entitlement

and Part B enrollment status of the

beneficiary. HCFA’s data will help TMA

to determine a beneficiary’s eligibility

for care under TRICARE. DEERS will

receive the results of the computer

match and provide the information

provided in the reply file to TMA for

use in its program.

INCLUSIVE DATES OF THE MATCH:

The matching program shall become

effective no sooner than 40 days after

the report of the matching program is

sent to OMB and Congress, or 30 days

after publication in the Federal

Register, whichever is later. The

matching program will continue for 18

months from the effective date and may

be extended for an additional 12 months

thereafter, if certain conditions are met.

[FR Doc. 01–12763 Filed 5–21–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4120–03–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services

Administration

Program Requirements and Review

Criteria for Cooperative Agreements

for Regional Centers for Health

Workforce Studies

The Health Resources and Services

Administration (HRSA) announces that

applications will be accepted for

Cooperative Agreements for fiscal year

(FY) 2001 to establish or continue five

Regional Centers for Health Workforce

Studies (Regional Centers).

The purpose of these Cooperative

Agreements is to support health

workforce research, analysis and

technical assistance with a State and

regional focus, including issues

regarding the impact of Federal

initiatives aimed at improving the

training of health professionals and

health workforce development in

general, both within specific disciplines

and as they pertain to the three crossdiscipline major trends (diversity,

genetics, and geriatrics) identified by

HRSA’s Bureau of Health Professions

(BHPr). In addition, patient-focused

cross-discipline research and analysis of

issues such as border, mental and oral

health, cultural competence, and the

impact of health workforce development

on access to or financing of a State’s or

region’s health care system will be

addressed.

Authorizing Legislation

These Cooperative Agreements are

governed by section 761 of title VII of

the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (the

Act), which authorizes the collection of

data and the analysis of workforce

related issues.

The Federal role in the conduct of

these Cooperative Agreements allows

for substantial Federal programmatic

involvement with the planning,

development, administration, and

evaluation of the Regional Centers and

their outputs. The BHPr program officer

will be assisted in this effort by program

staff of the BHPr Divisions. The Federal

Government involvement will include:

(a) Participation in the identification

and selection of workforce study

priorities;

(b) Participation in the review and

selection of research projects, which

includes providing substantial guidance

on Federal policy-relevant issues, or

issues of particular national interest that

require research and analysis. This

includes identification of HRSA

programmatic issues for special

attention (e.g., diversity) through the

Cooperative Agreements;

(c) Participation in the approval of

study protocols and methodologies;

(d) Consultation regarding subcontracts awarded under these

Cooperative Agreements, including

review of contracts and agreements

developed during the implementation of

project activities;

(e) Assistance in supplying data

relevant to Regional Center studies, or

in identifying sources of such data,

including other Federal agencies, or

other public and private organizations;

defining the mission, goals and

objectives for the Center;

(f) Assistance in the dissemination of

results and, if appropriate, participation

in their publication in peer-reviewed

journals.

Availability of Funds

Approximately $1,250,000 is available

to fund five regional competitive

Cooperative Agreements in FY 2001.

The project period will be 5 years. This

is a one time competition and is not

expected to be an ongoing Cooperative

Agreement program. Each applicant

may request up to $250,000 per year in

total costs (direct plus indirect costs) for

up to 5 years. Funding for years after the

first year will depend on satisfactory

performance and the availability of

appropriations.

The award recipient 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 percent of the

recipient’s matching contribution may

be in the form of in-kind donations such

as faculty time, staff time, use of

computers and other shared resources.

Because the Regional Centers will

have a strong regional component, the

BHPr will consider the regional

dimension of each center selected to

ensure that the geographic distribution

of the five selected centers will assure

maximum geographic coverage of the

nation. Five Regional Centers will be

funded at this time, subject to the

availability of funds, but only one

Regional Center will be approved in

each of five of the six geographic areas.

For purposes of this competition, the

HRSA six geographic areas are:

(a) HRSA Regions 1 (Connecticut,

Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire,

Rhode Island, Vermont), 2 (New Jersey,

New York, Puerto Rico, Virgin Islands),

and 3 (Delaware, District of Columbia,

Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West

Virginia);

(b) HRSA Region 4 (Alabama, Florida,

Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North

Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee);

(c) HRSA Regions 5 (Illinois, Indiana,

Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin)

and 7 (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri,

Nebraska);

(d) HRSA Region 6 ( Arkansas,

Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma,

Texas);

(e) HRSA Region 9 (American Samoa,

Arizona, California, The Federated

States of Micronesia, The

Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana

Islands, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, The

Republic of the Marshall Islands, and

The Republic of Palau);

(f) HRSA Regions 8 (Colorado,

Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota,

Utah, Wyoming) and 10 (Alaska, Idaho,

Oregon, Washington).

For a map and description of the

HRSA Regions, see HRSA’s web site at:

http://bhpr.hrsa/gov/healthworkforce/

fieldoffices.htm.

Background

The successful Regional Center

applicant will have three overriding

objectives:

(1) Serve as a national resource in

health workforce studies (This may

include congressionally-mandated

studies such as the recent Pharmacy

Shortage Report or lead participation in

28190 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 22, 2001 / Notices

educational forums to national

legislators and policymakers);

(2) Serve as a resource in health

workforce studies to its State(s), region,

and rural areas (This may include

studies of specific health professional

shortages such as nursing, or work with

their States primary care offices (PCOs)

and primary care associations (PCAs),

and State Office of Rural Health, or lead

participation in educational forums for

State, rural, and local legislators and

policymakers); and

(3) Serve as a resource in health

workforce studies for HRSA and the

BHPr (This may include national

studies such as the pharmacy, the

paraprofessional workforce, scope-ofpractice laws, and the State Health

Workforce profiles, or assisting and

working with organizations such as

Area Health Education Centers (AHECs)

or public health training centers in

workforce analysis). For examples of

past studies see the BHPr, National

Center for Health Workforce Information

and Analysis web site at:

www.bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/.

Eligible Applicants

Eligible applicants are State or local

governments, health professions

schools, schools of nursing, academic

health centers, community-based health

facilities, and other appropriate public

or private nonprofit entities. Due to the

complexity of the work, experience and

infrastructure in health workforce

analysis and research is required.

The applicant for a Regional Center

should have an established relationship

with and knowledge of HRSA’s health

professions training grant programs and

experience in providing technical

assistance in health workforce analysis

to State and local agencies and

organizations such as PCOs and PCAs as

a partnership. The applicant

organization will serve as a regional

resource in health workforce analysis.

The successful Regional Center

applicant will be expected to produce

ground-breaking reports that move the

field forward, in form of peer reviewed

and other publications, presentations at

national and regional or State forums,

and in web-based publishing. Each

center must conduct high-quality

research and disseminate findings to

colleagues and policymakers at the

institutional, Federal, and State levels.

Funding Preference

A funding preference is defined as the

funding of a specific category or group

of approved applications ahead of other

categories of groups of applications. The

following preference is available under

this Cooperative Agreement:

Taking into consideration that only

five Regional Centers will be funded at

this time with a limitation of one

Regional Center to be awarded per area

as specified above, a funding preference

will be given to any qualified

application that will show experience

with the analysis of health workforce

issues as they relate to the nation’s

Hispanic and border populations.

Providing health services to and training

health care providers for these often

overlapping underserved populations

are high priorities for HRSA and BHPr.

For example, only 62 primary care

physicians per 100,000 population

reside in (U.S.-Mexican) border counties

compared to 105 per 100,000 nationally,

and the poverty rate in these counties is

much higher than the national average.

Review Criteria

Applications received will be

reviewed by an ad hoc review panel

using the following criteria:

(a) The degree to which the proposal

contains clearly stated, realistic, and

measurable objectives, especially as

they relate to Federal, regional or State

concerns, policies, or legislative

deliberations affecting the health

workforce;

(b) The proposed activities and

projects for the first year must be

specific in content and expected

outcome. They should address the 3

major trends identified by the Bureau:

genetics, geriatrics, and diversity.

(c) The qualifications and

achievements of the proposed center’s

principal investigator and senior

research staff, breadth of knowledge

about health workforce disciplines,

including level of productivity and

national prominence in health

workforce research and analysis, and

the appropriateness of their time

commitment;

(d) The extent of the applicant’s

experience with research and analysis

of:

(1) Specific disciplines such as

nursing, primary care medicine and

medical specialties, dentistry,

pharmacy, public or allied health;

(2) Health workforce issues as they

pertain to the three cross-discipline

major trends identified by HRSA’s

BHPr: diversity, genetics, and geriatrics;

(3) Health workforce issues of concern

to States, rural, urban, and local areas,

in partnership with State PCOs and

PCAs, and State Offices of Rural Health;

(4) Issues such as border, Hispanic,

mental and oral health, or cultural

competence;

(5) Impact of health workforce

development on a State’s or region’s

health care system or financing.

(e) The experience and

accomplishments of the applicant in

health workforce issues and research

directly supporting BHPr programs and

priorities, especially with regard to

important and high visibility

contractual work;

(f) The strength of the applicant’s plan

to actively promote dissemination of

research findings both in peer-reviewed

journals and to relevant national and

State policymakers;

(g) The administrative and

management capability of the applicant

to carry out the Cooperative

Agreements, and the extent to which the

budget justifications are complete,

appropriate, and cost-effective; and

(h) The extent to which the applicant

can demonstrate the ability to obtain

non-Federal funding and resources to

provide program matching and the

likelihood to continue the center’s

workforce analytical activities beyond

the project period.

These Cooperative Agreements will

fund either the establishment and

operation of a new health workforce

research center, or the re-establishment

and continuation of an existing center

(four Centers for Health Workforce

Studies have been in operation for a 3-

year period, ending with FY 2000). The

new Regional Center must be an

identifiable entity within the applicant’s

institution rather than a set of discrete,

investigator-initiated research projects

pulled together in one application. It

must have a director; a coherent,

research agenda; and researchers who

function as a team. The principal

investigator must be an experienced

researcher who provides research

leadership and is primarily responsible

for the organization and operation of the

center. Each Regional center’s

researchers must collectively possess

multidisciplinary skills and have

experience in health services and

workforce research. Interdisciplinary

collaboration in research is encouraged.

Although the center will share common

resources with the applicant institution,

there must be sufficient core staff with

significant time commitment to the

center.

The funds for each Cooperative

Agreement will provide basic support

for the center, including the

development and implementation of its

research agenda, administrative and

research staff support, researcher time

(although not necessarily at 100

percent), and dissemination of the

center research products. Each

Cooperative Agreement must not be the

sole source of support for the center—

the applicant institution must

demonstrate a commitment to support

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 22, 2001 / Notices 28191

the organizational and management

structure of the centers, including a

matching contribution, and its

investigators should seek other funds for

the support of its research agenda.

Application Requests, Dates and

Address

In order to be considered for

competition, applications for these

Cooperative Agreements must be

received by mail or delivered to the

Grants Management Office no later than

June 21, 2001. Completed applications

should be mailed or delivered to: Grants

Management Officer (BHPr), Room 8C–

26, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers

Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857.

Applications received after the deadline

date or sent to any address other than

that above will be returned to the

applicant and not reviewed. In addition,

applications which do not follow format

instructions or exceed the page

limitation indicated in the proposal

instructions will not be accepted for

processing and will be returned to the

applicant.

Eligible entities interested in

receiving materials regarding this

program should notify HRSA. Materials

will be sent only to those entities

making a request. Requests for proposal

instructions should be directed to the

HRSA website address at http://

bhpr.hrsa.gov/grants2001/. Applicants

may also request a hard copy of these

materials from the HRSA Grants

Application Center (GAC) at 1815 North

Fort Myer Drive, Suite 300, Arlington,

VA 22209; telephone number 1–877–

477–2123. The GAC e-mail address is:

hrsa.gac@hrsa.gov.

National Health Objectives for the Year

2010

The PHS urges applicants to submit

their work plans that address specific

objectives of Healthy People 2010,

which potential applicants may obtain

through the Superintendent of

Documents, Government Printing

Office, Washington, DC 20402–9325

(telephone: 202–783–3238). Particular

attention should focus on Healthy

People 2010 Workforce Objectives, such

as Objectives 1–8 (achieving minority

representation in the health professions)

and 23–8 (incorporating specific

competencies into the public health

workforce).

Smoke-Free Workplace

The Public Health Service strongly

encourages all grant recipients to

provide a smoke-free workplace; to

promote the non-use of all tobacco

products; and to promote Pub. L. 103–

227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994,

which prohibits smoking in certain

facilities that receive Federal funds in

which education, library, day care,

health care, and early childhood

development services are provided to

children.

Additional Information

Questions concerning programmatic

aspects of these Cooperative Agreements

will be addressed via conference call.

Details pertaining to the conference call

will be announced in the application

material.

Questions regarding grants policy and

business management issues should be

directed to: Ms. Wilma Johnson, Grants

Management Officer, Bureau of Health

Professions, HRSA, Room 8C–26, 5600

Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland

20857; telephone: (301) 443–6880.

Paperwork Reduction Act

The standard application form PHS

398, PHS Grant Application, has been

approved by the Office of Management

and Budget (OMB) under the Paperwork

Reduction Act. The OMB clearance

number is 0925–0001. OMB review and

approval will be required for data

collection activities resulting from these

Cooperative Agreements which fall

under the purview of the Paperwork

Reduction Act.

This program 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 also not

subject to the Public Health System

Reporting Requirements.

Dated: May 14, 2001.

Elizabeth M. Duke,

Acting Administrator.

[FR Doc. 01–12771 Filed 5–21–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services

Administration

Advisory Committee; Notice of Meeting

In accordance with section 10(a)(2) of

the Federal Advisory Committee Act,

(Public Law 92–463), announcement is

made of the following National

Advisory body scheduled to meet

during the month of June 2001.

Name: Advisory Committee on

Interdisciplinary, Community-Based

Linkages.

Date and Time: June 7, 2001; 9:30

a.m.–5:30 p.m.; June 8, 2001; 9:30 a.m.–

4 p.m.

Place: The Doubletree Hotel Park

Terrace on Embassy Row 1515 Rhode

Island Avenue, NW., Washington, DC

20005.

The meeting is open to the public.

Agenda items will include, but not be

limited to: Welcome; plenary discussion

of community-based and

interdisciplinary education; guidance

provided on an ad hoc basis by Federal

program staff from the Division of

Interdisciplinary, Community-Based

Programs (DICP) and the Division of

Medicine and Dentistry (DMD), Bureau

of Health Professions (BHPr), Health

Resources and Services Administration

(HRSA); and refining standards and

writing the Committee report due to the

Secretary and the Congress in November

2001.

Meeting content will be based on the

Committee’s charge under Section 756

of the Public Health Service Act, to

include background research and

writing of the Committee report and

scheduling of topics of the next

Committee meeting in September 2001.

Public comment will be permitted

before lunch and at the end of the

Committee meeting on June 7 and 8,

2001. Oral presentations will be limited

to 5 minutes per public speaker. Persons

interested in providing an oral

presentation should submit a written

request, with a copy of their

presentation to: Mr. Leo Wermers,

Principal Staff Liaison, Division of

Interdisciplinary, Community-Based

Programs, Bureau of Health Professions,

Health Resources and Services

Administration, Room 9–105, 5600

Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland

20857, Telephone (301) 443–1648.

Requests should contain the name,

address, telephone number, and any

business or professional affiliation of

the person desiring to make an oral

presentation. Groups having similar

interests are requested to combine their

comments and present them through a

single representative. The Division of

Interdisciplinary, Community-Based

Programs will notify each presenter by

mail or telephone of their assigned

presentation time.

Persons who do not file an advance

request for a presentation, but wish to

make an oral statement may register to

do so at the Doubletree Hotel Park

Terrace on Embassy Row, Washington,

D.C. on June 7, 2001. These persons will

be allocated time as the Committee

meeting agenda permits.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Anyone requiring information regarding

the Committee should contact Mr.

Wermers, Division of Interdisciplinary,

Community-Based Programs, Bureau of