Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 29 / Monday, February 12, 2001 / Notices 9863

is necessary for the proper performance

of the functions of the agency, including

whether the information shall have

practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the

agency’s estimate of the burden of the

proposed collection of information; (c)

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and

clarity of the information to be

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the

burden of the collection of information

on respondents, including through the

use of automated collection techniques

or other forms of information

technology.

Proposed Project: U.S. Component of

the 2001/2002 World Health

Organization Study of Health Behavior

in School Children (WHO–HPSC): New

The Office of Data and Information

Management (ODIM), Maternal and

Child Health Bureau (MCHB), Health

Resources and Services Administration

(HRSA), will participate on behalf of the

United States in the 2001/2002 WHO

Study of Health Behavior in School

Children. The information proposed for

collection will be used by MCHB,

HRSA, and the National Institutes of

Health (NIH) to increase understanding

of adolescent health to improve the

quality of health programs and services.

This cross-national research study will

collect survey data to study adolescent

health status and behaviors in relation

to their social and supportive

environment. Types of data will include

measures of physical activity, body size,

nutrition, social inequality, diversity,

injury, violence, and perceptions of

peers, school and family as supportive.

The estimated response burden is as

follows:

Form Number of

respondents

Responses

per

respondent

Hours per

response

Total burden

hour

Survey .............................................................................................................. 17,500 1 .75 13,125

Send comments to Susan G. Queen,

Ph.D., HRSA Reports Clearance Officer,

Room 14–33, Parklawn Building, 5600

Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

Written comments should be received

within 60 days of this notice.

Dated: February 6, 2001.

Jane M. Harrison,

Director, Division of Policy Review and

Coordination.

[FR Doc. 01–3489 Filed 2–9–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–15–P

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service

Availability of Funds for Loan

Repayment Program for Repayment of

Health Professions Educational Loans

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Administrations budget

request for fiscal year (FY) 2001

includes $11,923,500 for the Indian

Health Service (IHS) Loan Repayment

Program (LRP) for health professions

educational loans (undergraduate and

graduate) in return for full-time clinical

service in Indian health programs. It is

anticipated that $11,923,500 will be

available to support approximately 298

competing awards averaging $40,000

per award.

This program announcement is

subject to the appropriation of funds.

This notice is being published early to

coincide with the recruitment activity of

the IHS, which competes with other

Government and private health

management organizations to employ

qualified health professionals. Funds

must be expended by September 30 of

the fiscal year. This program is

authorized by Section 108 of the Indian

Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA)

as amended, 25 U.S.C. 1601 et seq. The

IHS invites potential applicants to

request an application for participation

in the LRP.

DATES: Applications for the FY 2001

LRP will be accepted and evaluated

monthly beginning March 16, 2001, and

will continue to be accepted each month

thereafter until all funds are exhausted.

Subsequent monthly deadline dates are

scheduled for Friday of the second full

week of each month. Notice of awards

will be mailed on the last working day

of each month.

Applicants selected for participation

in the FY 2001 program cycle will be

expected to begin their service period

no later than September 30, 2001.

Applications shall be considered as

meeting the deadline if they are either:

1. Received on or before the deadline

date; or

2. Sent on or before the deadline date.

(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 are

not acceptable as proof of timely

mailing.)

Applications received after the

monthly closing date will be held for

consideration in the next monthly

funding cycle. Applicants who do not

receive funding by September 30, 2001,

will be notified in writing.

Form To Be Used for Application

Applications will be accepted only if

they are submitted on the form entitled

‘‘Application for the Indian Health

Service Loan Repayment Program,’’

identified with the Office of

Management and Budget approval

number of OMB #0917–0014 (expires

12/31/02).

ADDRESSES: Application materials may

be obtained by calling or writing to the

address below. In addition, completed

applications should be returned to: IHS

Loan Repayment Program, 12300

Twinbrook Parkway—Suite 100,

Rockville, Maryland 20852, PH: 301/

443–3396 (between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.

(EST) Monday through Friday, except

Federal holidays).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Please address inquiries to Ms.

Jacqueline K. Santiago, Chief, IHS Loan

Repayment Program, Twinbrook Metro

Plaza—Suite 100, 12300 Twinbrook

Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852,

PH: 301/443–3396 (between 8 a.m. and

5 p.m. (EST) Monday through Friday,

except Federal holidays).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section

108 of the IHCIA, as amended by Public

Laws 100–713 and 102–573, authorizes

the IHS LRP and provides in pertinent

part as follows:

The Secretary, acting through the Service,

shall establish a program to be known as the

Indian Health Service Loan Repayment

Program (hereinafter referred to as the ‘‘Loan

Repayment Program’’) in order to assure an

adequate supply of trained health

professionals necessary to maintain

accreditation of, and provide health care

services to Indians through, Indian health

programs.

Section 4(n) of the IHCIA, as amended

by the Indian Health Care Improvement

Technical Corrections Act of 1996, Pub.

L. 104–313, provides that:

‘‘Health Profession’’ means allopathic

medicine, family medicine, internal

medicine, pediatrics, geriatric medicine,

obstetrics and gynecology, podiatric

medicine, nursing, public health nursing,

dentistry, psychiatry, osteopathy, optometry,

pharmacy, psychology, public health, social

9864 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 29 / Monday, February 12, 2001 / Notices

work, marriage and family therapy,

chiropractic medicine, environmental health

and engineering, an allied health profession,

or any other health profession.

For the purposes of this program, the

term ‘‘Indian health program’’ is defined

in Section 108(a)(2)(A), as follows:

* * * any health program or facility funded,

in whole or in part, by the IHS for the benefit

of Indians and administered:

a. directly by the Service; (or)

b. by any Indian tribe or tribal or Indian

organization pursuant to a contract under:

(1) The Indian Self-Determination Act: or

(2) section 23 of the Act of April 30, 1908,

(25 U.S.C. 47), popularly known as the Buy

Indian Act; or

(3) by an urban Indian organization

pursuant to Title V of this act.

Applicants may sign contractual

agreements with the Secretary for 2

years. The IHS will repay all, or a

portion of the applicant’s health

profession educational loans

(undergraduate and graduate) for tuition

expenses and reasonable educational,

and living expenses in amounts up to

$20,000 per year for each year of

contracted services. Payments will be

made annually to the participant for the

purpose of repaying his/her outstanding

health profession educational loans.

Repayment of health profession

education loans will be made to the

participant within 120 days after the

entry-on-duty of the participant has

been confirmed by the IHSLRP.

The Secretary must approve the

contract before the disbursement of loan

repayments can be made to the

participant. Participants will be

required to fulfill their contract service

agreements through full-time clinical

practice at an Indian health program site

determined by the Secretary. Loan

repayment sites are characterized by

physical, cultural, and professional

isolation, and have histories of frequent

staff turnover. All Indian health

program sites are annually prioritized

within the Agency by discipline, based

on need or vacancy.

All health professionals will receive

up to $20,000 per year for the length of

their contract. Where the amount of the

LRP award may result in an increase in

Federal income tax liability, the IHS

will pay an additional 20 percent of the

participant’s total loan repayments to

the Internal Revenue Service for the

increased tax liability.

Pursuant to Section 108(b), to be

eligible to participate in the LRP, an

individual must:

(1) A. be enrolled:

(i) in a course of study or program in

an accredited institution, as determined

by the Secretary, within any State and

be scheduled to complete such course of

study in the same year such individual

applies to participate in such program;

or

(ii) in an approved graduate training

program in a health profession; or

B. have—

(i) a degree in a health profession; and

(ii) a license to practice; and

(2) A. be eligible for, or hold, an

appointment as a Commissioned Officer

in the Regular or Reserve Corps of the

Public Health Service (PHS); (or)

B. be eligible for selection for civilian

service in the Regular or Reserve Corps

of the (PHS); (or)

C. meet the professional standards for

civil service employment in the IHS; or

D. be employed in an Indian health

program without service obligation; and

(3) submit to the Secretary an

application for a contract to the Loan

Repayment Program.

All applicants must sign and submit

to the Secretary, a written contract

agreeing to accept repayment of

educational loans and to serve for the

applicable period of obligated service in

a priority site as determined by the

Secretary, and submit a signed affidavit

attesting to the fact that they have been

informed of the relative merits of the

U.S. PHS Commissioned Corps and the

Civil Service as employment options.

Once the applicant is approved for

participation in the LRP, the applicant

will receive confirmation of his/her loan

repayment award and the duty site at

which he/she will serve his/her loan

repayment obligation.

The IHS has identified the positions

in each Indian health program for which

there is a need or vacancy and ranked

those positions in order of priority by

developing discipline-specific

prioritized lists of sites.

Ranking criteria for these sites include

the following:

• Historically critical shortages

caused by frequent staff turnover;

• Current unmatched vacancies in a

Health Profession Discipline;

• Projected vacancies in a Health

Profession Discipline;

• Ensuring that the staffing needs of

Indian health programs administered by

an Indian tribe or tribal or health

organization receive consideration on an

equal basis with programs that are

administered directly by the Service;

and

• Giving priority to vacancies in

Indian health programs that have a need

for health professionals to provide

health care services as a result of

individuals having breached LRP

contracts entered into under this

section.

• Consistent with this priority

ranking, in determining applications to

be approved and contracts to accept, the

IHS will give priority to applications

made by American Indians and Alaska

Natives and to individual recruited

through the efforts of Indian tribes or

tribal or Indian organizations.

• Funds appropriated for the LRP in

FY 2001 will be distributed among the

health professions as follows:

allopathic/osteopathic practitioners will

receive 27 percent, registered nurses 20

percent, mental health professionals 10

percent, dentists 12 percent,

pharmacists 10 percent, optometrists 5

percent, physician assistants/advanced

practice nurses 6 percent, Podiatrists 4

percent, physical therapists 2 percent,

other professions 4 percent. This

requirement does not apply if the

number of applicants from these groups,

respectively, is not sufficient to meet the

requirement.

• The IHS will give priority in

funding among health professionals to

physicians in the following priority

specialties: anesthesiology, emergency

room medicine, general surgery,

obstetrics/gynecology, ophthalmology,

orthopedic surgery, otolaryngology/

otorhinolaryngology, psychiatry,

radiology and dentistry. Funding for

these priority specialties is within the

27 percent established for allopathic/

osteopathic practitioners.

FY 2000 applicants whose

applications were complete by

September 30, 2000, and who want to

compete in the FY 2001 award cycle,

will receive a site score equal to either

their FY 2000 score or the FY 2001

score, whichever is higher.

The following factors are equal in

weight when applied, and are applied

when all other criteria are equal and a

selection must be made between

applicants.

One or all of the following factors may

be applicable to an applicant, and the

applicant who has the most of these

factors, all other criteria being equal,

would be selected.

• An applicant’s length of current

employment in the IHS, tribal, or urban

program.

• Availability for service earlier than

other applicants (first come, first

served); and

• Date the individual’s application

was received.

Any individual who enters this

program and satisfactorily completes his

or her obligated period of services may

apply to extend his/her contract on a

year-by-year basis, as determined by the

IHS. Participants extending their

contracts will receive up to the

maximum amount of $20,000 per year

plus an additional 20 percent for

Federal Withholding. Participants who

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 29 / Monday, February 12, 2001 / Notices 9865

were awarded loan repayment contracts

prior to FY 2000 will be awarded

extensions up to the amount of $30,000

a year and 31 percent in tax subsidy if

funds are available, and will not exceed

the total of the individual’s outstanding

eligible health profession educational

loans.

Any individual who owes an

obligation for health professional

service to the Federal Government, a

State, or other entity is not eligible for

the LRP unless the obligation will be

completely satisfied before they begin

service under this program.

The IHS Area Offices and Service

Units are authorized to provide

additional funding to make awards to

applicants in the LRP, but must be in

compliance with any limits in the

appropriation and Section 108 of the

Indian Health Care Improvement Act

not to exceed the amount authorized in

the IHS appropriation (up to

$22,000,000 for FY 2001).

Should an IHS Area Office contribute

to the LRP, those funds will be used for

only those sites located in that Area.

Those sites will retain their relative

ranking from the national site-ranking

list. For example, the Albuquerque Area

Office identifies supplemental monies

for dentists. Only the dental positions

within the Albuquerque Area will be

funded with the supplemental monies

consistent with the national ranking and

site index within that Area.

Should an IHS Service Unit

contribute to the LRP, those funds will

be used for only those sites located in

that service unit. Those sites will retain

their relative ranking from the national

site-ranking list. For example, Chinle

Service Unit identifies supplemental

monies for pharmacists. The Chinle

Service Unit consist of two facilities,

namely the Chinle Comprehensive

Health Care Facility and the Tsaile PHS

Indian Health Center. The national

ranking will be used for the Chinle

Comprehensive Health Care Facility

(Score = 44) and the Tsaile PHS Indian

Health Center (Score = 46). With a score

of 46, the Tsaile PHS Indian Health

Center would receive priority over the

Chinle Comprehensive Health Care

Facility.

This program is not subject to review

under Executive Order 12372.

(The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance

number is 93.164)

Dated: February 2, 2001.

Michel E. Lincoln,

Deputy Director.

[FR Doc. 01–3488 Filed 2–9–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4160–16–M

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND

HUMAN SERVICES

Office of Inspector General

Privacy Act of 1974; Amendment to the

Health Care Program Violations

System of Records

AGENCY: Office of Inspector General

(OIG), HHS.

ACTION: Notice and comment period.

SUMMARY: In accordance with the

provisions of the Privacy Act of 1974,

the Office of Inspector General (OIG) is

amending an existing system of records,

entitled ‘‘Health Care Program

Violations.’’ This system of records

maintains certain health care sanction

records for the purpose of making

sanction decisions publically available.

In order to assure the proper

identification of sanctioned individuals,

we are amending the category of records

maintained in the system to include

individual Social Security numbers

(SSNs). The purpose of maintaining

SSNs is to provide another field of

identification which may be entered by

those querying the system; these SSNs

will not be accessible by users of the

system. In addition, in the future,

entities listed in the system will be able

to be queried by their Employer

Identification number (EIN).

This notice also makes other

amendments to the system of records

that include more specifically

describing the categories of individuals

covered by the system; adding a routine

use for disclosure of information as

required by the Federal Acquisition

Streamlining Act of 1994; revising the

routine use for disclosure of information

in the event of litigation; and explaining

the method of retrievability for

electronic records. Additional minor

technical changes include revising the

period of record retention for paper

records; adding a retention period for

electronic records; and changing the

point of contact for the record

notification procedure.

DATES: Effective date: This revision will

become effective, without further notice,

on March 29, 2001, unless comments

received on or before that date result in

a contrary determination.

Comment date: Comments on this

revision will be considered if we receive

them at the address provided below no

later than 5 p.m. on March 14, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Please mail or deliver

written comments to the following

address: Office of Inspector General,

Department of Health and Human

Services, Attention: OIG–52–N, Room

5246, Cohen Building, 330

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC 20201.

We do not accept comments by

facsimile (FAX) transmission. In

commenting, please refer to file code

OIG–52–N. Comments received timely

will be available for public inspection as

they are received, generally beginning

approximately 3 weeks after publication

of a document, in Room 5541 of the

Office of Inspector General at 330

Independence Avenue, SW.,

Washington, DC, on Monday through

Friday of each week from 8 a.m. to 4:30

p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joel

Schaer, OIG Regulations Officer, (202)

619–0089.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

A. The Federal Health Care Program

Violations System of Records

Under current law, individuals and

entities must be excluded from

participation in Federal health care

programs in accordance with section

1128 of the Social Security Act (42

U.S.C. 1320a–7) for certain types of

convictions, and may be excluded for

other reasons, including licensure board

actions, other Federal or State agency

actions, and quality of care violations.

In conjunction with this authority, the

‘‘Health Care Program Violations’’

system of records, maintained by the

OIG, serves as a source of public

information on all individuals or

entities excluded from Federal health

care programs. This system of records

also provides the organizations

responsible for licensing, certifying or

otherwise approving the health-related

activities of individuals and entities

with the information they may need to

make decisions. The system of records

also allows health care employers to

check on the exclusion status of new

and current employees and contractors.

This is of particular importance to

hospitals and other health care entities,

which are subject to civil money

penalties, as authorized by Public Law

105–33, for hiring or contracting with

excluded individuals and entities.

Finally, the system of records serves as

a fraud deterrent by virtue of public

knowledge of its very existence, and

provides the OIG with a means of

analyzing trends and impact in fraud

and abuse detection and enforcement.

Procedural information regarding the

‘‘Health Care Program Violations’’

system of records was last published in

the Federal Register on August 26, 1982

(47 FR 37693).