[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 18 (Friday, January 26, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2519-2521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-1319]



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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration


Program Announcement for Grants for Family Medicine Training for 
Fiscal Year 1996

    The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announces 
that applications will be accepted for fiscal year (FY) 1996 Grants for 
Family Medicine Training funded under the authority of section 747 (a) 
and (b), title VII of the Public Health Service Act (the Act), as 
amended by the, Health Professions Education Extension Amendments of 
1992, Pub. L. 102-408, dated October 13, 1992. These grant programs 
include:

Grants for Predoctoral Training in Family Medicine
Grants for Establishment of Departments of Family Medicine

    This program announcement is subject to reauthorization of the 
legislative authority and to the appropriation of funds. Applicants are 
advised that this program announcement is a contingency action being 
taken to assure that should authority and funds become available for 
this purpose, they can be awarded in a timely fashion consistent with 
the needs of the program as well as to provide for even distribution of 
funds throughout the fiscal years. At this time, given a continuing 
resolution and the absence of FY 1996 appropriations for title VII 
programs, the amount of available funding for these specific grant 
programs cannot be estimated.

Grants for Predoctoral Training in Family Medicine

    Purpose: Section 747(a) of the Public Health Service Act authorizes 
the award of grants to assist in meeting the cost of planning, 
developing and operating or participating in approved predoctoral 
training programs in the field of family medicine. Grants may include 
support for the program only or support for both the program and the 
trainees.
    Eligibility: Eligible applicants are accredited public or nonprofit 
private schools of medicine or osteopathic medicine.

Grants for Establishment of Departments of Family Medicine

    Purpose: Section 747(b) of the PHS Act authorizes support to meet 
the costs of projects to establish, maintain, or improve family 
medicine academic administrative units (which may be departments, 
divisions, or other units) to provide clinical instruction in family 
medicine. Funds awarded will be used to: (1) plan and develop model 
educational predoctoral, faculty development and graduate medical 
education programs in family medicine which will meet the requirements 
of section 747(a), by the end of the project period of section 747(b) 
support; and (2) support academic and clinical activities relevant to 
the field of family medicine.
    The program may also assist schools to strengthen the 
administrative base and structure that is responsible for the planning, 
direction, organization, coordination, and evaluation of all 
undergraduate and graduate family medicine activities. Funds are to 
complement rather than duplicate programmatic activities for actual 
operation of family medicine training programs under section 747(a).
    Eligibility: To be eligible to receive support for this grant 
program, the applicant must be a public, or nonprofit private, 
accredited school of medicine or osteopathic medicine.

National Health Objectives for the Year 2000

    The Public Health Service urges applicants to submit work plans 
that address specific objectives of Healthy People 2000. 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 to promote the non-use of all 
tobacco products and Public Law 103-227, the Pro-Children Act of 1994, 
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.

Review Criteria

    The following review criteria were established in 42 CFR part 57, 
subparts Q and R, and following public comment at 60 FR 2976, dated 
January 12, 1995.
    1. The administrative and management ability of the applicant to 
carry out the proposed project in a cost-effective manner.
    2. The potential of the project to continue on a self-sustaining 
basis after the period of grant support.
    3. The degree to which the proposed project adequately provides for 
the project requirements.
    4. Potential effectiveness of the proposed project in carrying out 
the training purposes of section 747 of the PHS Act.

Weighted indicators were also established for these review criteria 
following public comment at 60 FR 2976, dated January 12, 1995.

Other Considerations

    In addition, 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 applicants ahead of 
other categories or 

[[Page 2520]]
groups of approved applications in a discretionary program, or 
favorable adjustment of the formula which determines the grant award in 
a formula grant program. 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 General Preference

    All of the Family Medicine Training grant programs are subject to 
the statutory general preference. As provided in section 791(a) of the 
PHS Act, statutory preference will be given to any qualified applicant 
that--
    (A) has a high rate for placing graduates in practice settings 
having the principal focus of serving residents of medically 
underserved communities; or
    (B) during the 2-year period preceding the fiscal year for which 
such an award is sought, has achieved a significant increase in the 
rate of placing graduates in such settings.

This statutory preference will only be applied to applications that 
rank above the 20th percentile of proposals recommended for approval by 
the peer view group.
    For Grants for Predoctoral Training in Family Medicine, the 
following definitions apply: ``High rate'' is defined as a minimum of 
20 percent of graduates of the medical school in academic year 1990-91 
or 1991-92.
    ``Significant increase in the rate'' means that the rate of placing 
academic year 1991-92 graduates in the specified settings is at least 
50 percent higher than the rate of placing academic year 1990-91 
graduates in such settings and that not less than 15 percent of 
academic year 1991-92 graduates are working in these areas. Academic 
years 1990-91 and 1991-92 are used because they are the two most recent 
years that medical school graduates would have entered practice 
following the completion of residency training.
    For Grants for the Establishment of Departments of Family Medicine, 
the following definitions apply: ``High rate'' means that 20 percent of 
all graduates of the medical school in 1991 or 1992, whichever is 
greater, are spending at least 50 percent of their work time in 
clinical practice in the specified settings.
    ``Significant increase in the rate'' means that, between academic 
years 1993-94 and 1994-95, the rate of placing 1991 or 1992 graduates 
in the specified settings has increased by at least 50 percent and that 
not less than 15 percent of graduates from the most recent year (1992) 
are working in these settings.
    Additional general information regarding the implementation of the 
statutory general preference has been published in the Federal Register 
at 59 FR 15741, dated April 4, 1994.

Additional Statutory Funding Preference for Grants for the 
Establishment of Departments of Family Medicine

    An additional statutory funding preference applies only to Grants 
for the Establishment of Departments of Family Medicine. Under section 
747(b), a funding preference is provided for qualified applicants that 
agree to expend the award for the purpose of: (1) Establishing an 
academic administrative unit defined as a department, division, or 
other unit, for programs in family medicine; or (2) substantially 
expanding the programs of such a unit.

Information Requirements Provision

    All of the Family Medicine Training grant programs are subject to 
the information requirements provision. Under section 791(b) of the 
Act, the Secretary may make an award under certain title VII grant 
programs only if the applicant for the award submits to the Secretary 
the following required 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 Availability

    Application materials are available on the World Wide Web at 
address: http:/ /www.os.dhhs.gov/hrsa/. Click on the file name you want 
to download to your computer. It will be saved as a self-extracting 
WordPerfect 5.1 file. Once the file is downloaded to the applicant's 
PC, it will still be in a compressed state. To decompress the file, go 
to the directory where the file has been downloaded and type in the 
file name followed by a . The file will expand to a WordPerfect 
5.1 file. Applicants are strongly encouraged to obtain application 
materials from the World Wide Web via the Internet.
    However, for applicants which do not have Internet capability, 
application materials are also available on the BHPr BBS. Use your 
computer and modem to call (301) 443-5913. Set your modem parameters to 
2400 baud, parity to none, data bits to 8, and stop bits to 1. Set your 
terminal emulation to ANSI or VT-100.
    Once you have accessed the BHPr Bulletin Board, you will be asked 
for your first and last name. It will also ask you to choose a 
password. REMEMBER YOUR PASSWORD! The first time you log on you 
``register'' by answering a number of other questions. The next time 
you log on, BHPr's Bulletin Board will know you.
    Press (F) for the (F)iles Menu and (L) to (L)ist Files. Press (L) 
again to see a list of numbered file areas. To see a list of files in 
any area, type the number corresponding to that area. Competitive 
application materials for grant programs administered by the Bureau of 
Health Professions are located in the File Area item ``B'' title Grants 
Announcements.
    To (R)ead a file or (D)ownload a file, you need to know its exact 
name as listed on BHPr's Bulletin Board. Press (R) to (R)ead a file and 
type the name of the file. Press (D) to (D)ownload a file to your 
computer. You need to know how your communications software 
accomplishes downloading.
    When you have completed your tour of BHPr's Bulletin Board for this 
session, press (G) for (G)oodbye and press .
    If you have difficulty accessing the BHPr BBS, please try the 
Internet address listed above. If you do not have Internet capability 
and need assistance in accessing the BHPr BBS or technical assistance 
with any aspect of the BHPr BBS, please call Mr. Larry DiGiulio, 
Systems Operator for BHPr BBS at (301) 443-2850 or 
``[email protected]''.

[[Page 2521]]

    Questions regarding grants policy and business management issues 
should be directed to Mrs. Brenda Selser, Chief, Residency and Advanced 
Grants Sections ([email protected]), Grants Management Branch, 
Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services 
Administration, Parklawn Building, Room 8C-26, 5600 Fishers Lane, 
Rockville, Maryland 20857. If you are unable to obtain the application 
materials electronically, you may obtain application materials in the 
mail by sending a written request to the Grants Management Branch at 
the address above. Written requests may also be sent via FAX (301) 443-
6343 or via the Internet address listed above. Completed applications 
should be returned to the Grants Management Branch at the above 
address.
    If additional programmatic information is needed, please contact 
the Division of Medicine, Bureau of Health Professions, Health 
Resources and Services Administration, Parklawn Building, Room 9A-20, 
5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857. Please see Table 1 for 
specific names and phone numbers for each grant program.

                                                                         Table 1                                                                        
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                                                                 Grants management contact/Phone                                                        
 PHS title VII section number/program                                     No. (e-mail:               Programmatic contact/         Deadline date for    
  title CFDA No. program regulations      Period of support     [email protected]) (FAX:   phone No. (FAX: 443-8890)    competing applications  
                                                                            443-6343)                                                                   
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747: Predoctoral Training in FM,       3 years................  Mrs. Brenda Selser, (301) 443-    Mrs. Betty Ball, (301) 443- Mar. 15, 1996.            
 93.896, 42 CFR part 57, subpart Q.                              6960.                             1467.                                                
747: Departments of FM, 93.984, 42     3 years................  Mrs. Brenda Selser, (301) 443-    Mrs. Shelby Biedenkapp,     Mar. 29, 1996.            
 CFR part 57, subpart R.                                         6960.                             (301) 443-1467.                                      
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Paperwork Reduction Act

    The standard application form PHS 6025-1, HRSA Competing Training 
Grant Application, General Instructions and supplement for these grant 
programs have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act. The OMB Clearance Number is 0915-
0060.

Deadline Dates

    The deadline date for receipt of applications for each of these 
grant programs is shown in Table 1. Applications will be considered to 
be ``on time'' if they are either:
    (1) Received on or before the established deadline date, or
    (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. In addition, applications which exceed the page 
limitation and/or do not follow format instructions will not be 
accepted for processing and will be returned to the applicant.
    These Grants for Family Medicine Training are not subject to the 
provisions of Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Review of 
Federal Programs (as implemented through 45 CFR part 100). Also, these 
grant programs are not subject to the Public Health System Reporting 
Requirements.

    Dated: January 11, 1996.
Ciro V. Sumaya,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-1319 Filed 1-25-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-15-M