[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 180 (Monday, September 16, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48790-48791]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-23252]



[[Page 48789]]


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Part III





Department of Health and Human Services





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Office of Public Health and Science



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Funding Availability: National Center for Primary Care; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol.61, No. 180 / Monday, September 16, 1996 / 
Notices  

[[Page 48790]]



DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Office of Public Health and Science


Office of Minority Health; Notice of Availability of Funds--
Construction Grant for a National Center for Primary Care

SUMMARY: The Office of Minority Health (OMH), Office of Public Health 
and Science announces that Fiscal Year (FY) 1996 funds are available 
for the construction of a National Center for Primary Care. Funds were 
appropriated for this purpose by the Balanced Budget Downpayment Act 
II, Pub. L. 104-134 for FY 1996.

    Authority: This program will be conducted under the authority of 
section 1701 of the Public Health Service Act and Pub. L. 104-134.

DATES: To receive consideration, applications must be received by 
(enter 45 days from date of publication) by the Grants Management 
Officer, Mrs. Carolyn Williams, at the address below. Applications will 
meet the deadline if they are either: (1) Received on or before the 
deadline date; or (2) postmarked on or before the deadline date. A 
legibly dated receipt from a commercial carrier or the U.S. Postal 
Service will be accepted instead of a postmark. Private metered 
postmarks will not be acceptable as proof of timely mailing. Grant 
applications that are received after the deadline date will be returned 
to the applicant.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Additional information related to 
technical and program issues may be obtained from Ms. Tuei Doong, 
Deputy Director, Office of Minority Health, Rockwall II Building, Suite 
1000, 5515 Security Lane, Rockville, MD 20852, telephone number (301) 
443-5084. Grant application kits and information regarding business, 
administrative or fiscal issues related to the awarding of the grant 
under this Notice may be requested from Ms. Carolyn Williams, Grants 
Management Officer, Office of Minority Health, Rockwall II Building, 
Suite 1000, 5515 Security Lane, Rockville, MD 20852, telephone number 
(301) 594-0758. Applicants for grants will use Form PHS 5161.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Program and Background Information

    Minority individuals and communities suffer disproportionately from 
excess morbidity and mortality from causes that are known to be 
preventable by community-oriented prevention and primary care. For 
example, minority individuals have nearly twice the prevalence of 
diabetes as the general population, and minority diabetics suffer 
complications at twice the rate of nonminority diabetics.
    Minority communities' lack of access to health care is a causative 
factor for this disparity in health outcomes. Despite a similar 
prevalence of cardiovascular disease, African-Americans with heart 
disease have mortality rates twice that of their white counterparts. 
Minority Women are only half as likely to have had a Pap smear or other 
preventive health care in the past year as are their majority 
counterparts, despite a significantly higher risk of cervical 
neoplasia.
    Minority individuals are also significantly under represented among 
health professionals and faculty and leadership of health professional 
schools. The availability of minority health professionals is critical 
to the improvement of health outcomes for minority populations. 
Minority physicians are significantly more likely to enter generalist 
careers and to serve in underserved areas. A study of physician 
practice locations and the racial and ethnic makeup and socioeconomic 
status of communities was recently published in the New England Journal 
of Medicine. This study concluded that black physicians cared for 
significantly more black patients and Hispanic physicians for 
significantly more Hispanic patients. Black physicians cared for more 
patients covered by Medicaid and Hispanic physicians for more uninsured 
patients. Achieving the goals of Health People 2000 for the entire 
nation will require additional well-trained health professionals and 
researchers who are experts in the unique problems and strengths of 
low-income minority communities. To reach these objectives there must 
be more minority faculty and leadership in academic institutions.
    The National Center for Primary Care will provide an academic 
infrastructure for research, training, communications, and 
demonstration projects designed to promote the improvement of the 
health of underserved communities and populations at the national 
level. While a variety of programs and demonstrations are being 
undertaken around the country, efforts are autonomous and disconnected. 
The National Center for Primary Care will serve both as a clearinghouse 
for existing activities and as a catalyst for new cutting-edge efforts 
to achieve equity in health status, health care delivery, and in 
developing the health professional workforce for under represented 
minority individuals.

Availability of Funds

    A total of $7.5 million is available in FY 1996 for one award to a 
school of medicine for the construction of a National Center for 
Primary Care.

Project Requirements

    Proposals will be accepted for the construction of a facility with 
the dedicated purpose of housing programs designed to promote, at the 
national level, the improvement of health in underserved minority 
communities and populations. At a minimum, the Center should include 
office space, conference rooms, classroom space, auditorium/lecture 
halls, library or reading room, and computer facility to house most or 
all of the following program elements:
    (1) Medical education program enhancements to expand the number of 
physicians and other health professionals trained to serve poor and 
minority populations
    (2) Research an demonstration projects designed to assess the 
impact of various health care delivery models and treatments on health 
outcomes specifically in minority populations
    (3) Community-based intervention demonstration projects designed as 
reproducible models for improving the health of minorities and other 
underserved populations
    (4) Practical research from primary and secondary data sources on 
the causes and risk factors related to excess mortality and morbidity 
in minority communities and populations
    (5) Practical research from primary and secondary data sources on 
issues related to minorities in the health professional workforce, and 
design interventions to increase minority representation in all 
segments of the health professions
    (6) Provision of conference, publications, and electronic 
mechanisms (e.g., access to Internet, bulletin boards, etc.) to 
coordinate communication with other programs and institutions with the 
same minority health emphasis, focused on the health of minority 
communities and populations
    Title 45 CFR 74.32(2) requires that this facility be used for the 
purpose for which it was constructed for its entire useful life.

 Eligibility Requirements

    Applicatons will be accepted only from medical schools or academic 
consortia that have a demonstrated track record of commitment to 
improvement of health in underserved minority communities and 
populations. Applicant schools must submit

[[Page 48791]]

documentation demonstrating that they meet all of the following 
criteria as evidence of this commitment. Applicants who do not provide 
such documentation will be determined ineligible and their applications 
will be returned without further review.
    (1) Mission statement emphasizes commitment to health of minorities 
and other underserved populations as a central theme
    (2) The curricula in the departments and graduate training programs 
in the areas of Preventive Medicine, Public Health, and primary care 
(particularly Family Medicine) contain elements specifically focused on 
minority health
    (3) More than 50% of students and trainees at the institutions are 
from minority groups that are under-represented in the medical 
professions
    (4) More than 40% of the institution's full and part-time faculty 
and senior leadership are from under-represented minority groups
    (5) A strong track record of partnership with community-based 
organizations to improve health in the minority community
    (6) Capability to undertake program leadership at a national scale 
for all project requirements described in this notice
    (7) A strong track record of having 50% or more of its physician 
graduates over the last five years who have chosen to enter primary 
care specialities
    (8) A strong track record of having at least 30% of its physician 
graduates over the last five years serving in undeserved communities

Evaluation Criteria

    Applications must meet the following criteria. Projects will be 
reviewed on a competitive basis by an objective review committee based 
on an assessment of how well applications meet the following evaluation 
criteria:
    (1) Clarity and strength of justification of the need for the 
proposed facility
    (2) Clarity of defined program goals and objectives; degree to 
which the specific activities required to accomplish the goals of the 
proposed Center are defined
    (3) Strength and documentation that the institution is capable of 
carrying out project requirements described above, strength of the 
qualifications of staff to ensure that program elements are undertaken
    (4) Documentation of affiliations with other health professions 
training institutions and health care facilities that serve 
predominately minority populations
    (5) Documentation that a large proportion of clinical activities 
are devoted to serving the health care needs of rural or inner-city, 
low-income, minority populations
    (6) Documentation that a large proportion of its clinical 
activities are devoted to research or demonstration projects directly 
aimed at improving the health of minorities and other undeserved 
populations
    (7) Strength and clarity of justification for the amount and type 
of space requested to support program requirements
    (8) The appropriateness of the project design, facility 
construction plans and schematic drawings, and time frames for 
initiation through completion of the project
    (9) The reasonableness and justification for the itemized costs in 
the construction budget
    (10) The ability of the applicant to contribute funds for the 
construction project. It is expected that the recipient will contribute 
at least 25% of the total project cost.

Other Award Information

    The application is subject to the provisions of Executive Order 
12372, as implemented under 45 CFR Part 100, which allows State the 
option of setting up a system for reviewing applications within their 
States for assistance under certain Federal programs. Applicants (other 
than federally recognized Indian tribal governments) should contact 
their State Single Point of Contact (SPOCs) as early as possible to 
alert them to the prospective applications and receive any necessary 
instructions on the state process. For proposed projects serving more 
than one state, the applicant is advised to contact the SPOC for each 
affected State. All comments from a state office must be received 
within 60 days after the application deadline by the Office of Minority 
Health's Grants Management Officer. A list of addresses of the SPOCs is 
enclosed with the application kit material.
    Provision of Smoke-Free Workplace and Non-Use of Tobacco Products 
by Recipients of PHS Grants: 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. 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.
    The PHS is committed to achieving the health promotion and disease 
prevention objectives of Healthy People 2000, a PHS-led national 
activity for setting priority areas. This announcement is related to 
all of the priority areas 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 Summary Report (Stock No. 017-001-00473-
1) through the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office, 
Washington, DC 20402-9325 (telephone: 202/783-3238).

Use of Metric Units in Application Plans, Design, and Project 
Construction

    Per Executive Order 12770, July 1991, all construction projects 
funded in whole or in part with Federal funds must use System 
International (SI) Metric Units. Usage shall conform to Federal 
Standard 376B, Preferred Metric Units for General Use by the Federal 
Government. Applicants must use this system (SI) for planning, 
estimating, design and construction phases of Federally supported 
projects.
    This program is not subject to the Public Health System Reporting 
Requirements.
    There is no CFDA number for this program since it is viewed as a 
one-time project.

    Dated: August 29, 1996.
Clay E. Simpson, Jr.,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Minority Health.
[FR Doc. 96-23252 Filed 9-13-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-17-M