[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 141 (Wednesday, July 23, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 39532-39534]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-19246]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Health Resources and Services Administration
Proposed Program Requirements and Review Criteria for a
Cooperative Agreement for a Center for Health Workforce Distribution
Studies: A Federal-State Partnership Cooperative Agreement Program for
Fiscal year 1997
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announces
that applications will be accepted for a fiscal year (FY) 1997
Cooperative Agreement for a Center for Health Workforce Distribution
Studies: A Federal-State Partnership Cooperative Agreement Program. The
cooperative agreement will be funded under the authority of section 792
(42 USC 295k) of the Public Health Service Act, which authorizes
research on health professions personnel.
Research and studies for this cooperative agreement program will
focus on the workforce distributional aspects of the legislation at the
state (one or a few states) level for allied health personnel,
dentists, nurses, physicians, and public health personnel as specified
below.
A proposed three-year period of support beginning in fiscal year
1997 is anticipated, with approximately $250,000 per year. This is a
one time competition and is not expected to be an ongoing cooperative
agreement program. Applicants may request up to $250,000 per year in
total costs (direct plus indirect costs), for up to three years.
Purpose
The purpose of this cooperative agreement for a Center for Health
Workforce Distribution Studies is to support research and analysis at
the state level for one state or a few states only, including issues
regarding the impact of federal initiatives aimed at improving the
training of health professionals and meeting national workforce goals
pertaining to:
(1) Allied health data and distributional issues consistent with
the (1995) recommendations of the National Commission on Allied Health
and in close coordination with the activities of the Allied Health Data
Collaborative Project;
(2) Distribution of dentists, with emphasis on trends relating to
educational background (for example, those with postdoctoral training
in advanced general dentistry and/or public health dentistry) and
practice in settings principally serving residents of medically
underserved communities;
(3) The designation of nursing shortage areas at the state level
and, through a pilot exploration of a model approach, build a
methodologic bridge to other states for applicability across the
Nation;
(4) The distribution of physicians, with emphasis on underserved
areas and specialty services, including, for example OB/GYN, maternal
and child health, general surgery, emergency medicine, and mental
health; and addressing issues of substitution, using available tools
such as the HRSA/BHPr Integrated Requirements Model (IRM), as
applicable, and
(5) The establishment of collaboration(s) between schools of public
health and state and local public health agencies to assess public
health workforce supply and distribution and to develop educational
strategies to address imbalances; and to develop the nature of
workforce planning for public health personnel at the state level.
The cooperative agreement is to fund either the establishment and
the operation of a new research center, or the operation of an existing
research of a new research center, for the conduct of such research.
The center must conduct high-quality research and disseminate findings
to colleagues and policy-makers at the institutional, Federal and state
levels.
The successful applicant must have or establish the Center for
Health Workforce Distribution Studies as an identifiable entity. This
must be more than a set of discrete, investigator-initiated research
projects proposed in one application. The center must have a director;
a coherent, widely-recognized research agenda; and researchers who
function as a team. The principal investigator must be an experienced
researcher who will be primarily responsible for the organization and
operation of the center and will provide research leadership. The
center's researchers must collectively possess multidisciplinary
skills, and have experience in health services research. There must be
sufficient core staff with significant time commitments to the center,
although the center will of necessity share common resources with other
components of the applicant institution, including technical, clerical,
and administrative personnel, and library and computer resources.
The cooperative agreement funds will be available to provide basic
support for the center, including: the development and implementation
of the center's research agenda, administrative and research staff
support, researcher time (although not necessarily 100% of researcher
time), and dissemination of center research products through articles
in peer-reviewed journals as well as center-sponsored publications.
This cooperative agreement must not be the sole source of support for
this type of enterprise. The applicant institution must demonstrate a
commitment (including a matching contribution--see ``Program
Requirements'' below) to support the organizational and management
structure of the center, and its investigators should seek other funds
for support of its research agenda.
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Substantial Programmatic Involvement
Personnel of the Bureau of Health Professions will have substantial
programmatic involvement with the planning, developing and
administering of the Center for Health Workforce Distribution Studies
and its outputs. The program officer will be assisted by the work in
close coordination with program staff of the divisions contributing to
this cooperative agreement. Federal guidance and involvement will
include:
1. Participating in identification of workforce study priorities;
2. Assisting in the selection of research projects. This includes,
but is not limited to, providing substantial guidance on Federal
policy-relevant issues, and issues of particular national interest,
that require research;
3. Participating in the approval of study protocols and
methodologies;
4. Participating in review and selection of sub-contracts awarded
under the cooperative agreement. If sub-contracts are awarded via a
competitive process, a representative of the Bureau will serve on the
review panel which will evaluate applications;
5. Supplying data in areas relevant to studies of the health
professions workforce. When data are not directly available from the
Bureau of Health Professions, Bureau personnel will assist in
identifying sources of data such as other Federal agencies, and
other public and private organizations;
6. Assisting with the preparation of project results for
publication in peer-reviewed journals;
7. Providing information about numerous Federal programs that
impact health workforce studies.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants include public and non-profit private entities.
The applicant must bring together allied/dental/medical/nursing/public
health schools and state agencies, must have experience in all five
component areas, the assessment and evaluation of unmet need/
underserved areas, and in issues of non-physician provider
substitution, and must have access to the allied and public health
workforce data base in the state. Development of a methodology for the
assessment of nursing shortage areas and of public health requirements
and supply in a state must involve a state agency.
Proposed Program Requirements
The award recipient's 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% of the recipient's matching
contribution may be in the form of in-kind donations of faculty time,
staff time, use of computers or other shared resources.
Applicants are urged to submit applications that address specific
objectives of HRSA/BHPr. Health workforce surveillance reveals
significant gaps in the Nation's health workforce ability to meet the
population's needs. In some cases, these gaps are exacerbated by market
forces. The BHPr attempts to address these in its four health workforce
goals to improve the distribution, diversity, supply, and competence/
quality. Specifically,
Distribution: there has been little progress in reducing the number
of underserved areas, and access to generalist providers varies widely
across states and counties;
Diversity: few health professions reflect the diversity of the
Nation's population, also there is strong evidence that
underrepresented minority providers are more likely to serve vulnerable
populations;
Supply: shortages of some allied and public health providers
coincide with a surfeit of specialist physicians
Competance: most training is hospital-based and ill-suited to
ambulatory health care delivery, which occurs in an increasingly
managed care environment and requires skills in providing cost-
effective quality care. Also, an aging population created an unmet need
for geriatric training.
Proposed Review Criteria
Applications for this cooperative agreement will be evaluated on
the basis of the following criteria:
(1) The qualification and achievements of the proposed center's
principal investigator and senior researchers, including level of
productivity and quality of research in health workforce issues;
(2) Demonstration of an understanding of the particular subject
areas of health professions workforce research that are relevant to
Federal policies and evidence of ability to manage research in such
areas;
(3) The appropriations of the time commitments of the principal
investigator and senior researchers;
(4) The strength of the applicant's plan to actively promote
dissemination of research findings to all health professionals involved
in health services research and to relevant national and state policy
makers;
(5) The appropriateness of the proposed budget;
The planned level of commitment to the center from the applicant
institution, as evidenced by specific plans for the type of financial
support that will be offered, and for support of the organizations
structure of the center. Evidence of a prior institutional commitment
to generalizable research in health workforce studies will also be
sought;
(7) The past success and the future potential of the proposed
center's researchers in receiving funding from other sources; and
(8) The likely effectiveness of the organizational and management
arrangements to operate the proposed center.
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).
Academic and Community Partnerships
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 Pub. L. 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.
Additional Information
Interested persons are invited to comment on the proposed program
requirements and review criteria. The comment period is 30 days. All
comments received on or before August 22, 1997 will be considered
before the final program requirements and review criteria are
established. Written comments should be addressed to: Mr. B. Jerald
McClendon, Director, Office of Research and Planning, Bureau of Health
Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, Parklawn
[[Page 39534]]
Building, Room 8-47, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857.
All comments receive will be available for public inspection and
copying at the Office of Research and Planning, Bureau of Health
Professions, at the above address, weekdays (Federal holidays excepted)
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.
Application Requests
Application materials are available on the World Wide Web at
address: ``http://www.hrsa.dhhs.gov/bhpr/grants.html''. In fiscal year
1997, the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr) will use Adobe Acrobat to
publish the grants documents on the Web page. In order to download,
view and print these grants documents, you will need a copy of Adobe
Acrobat Reader. This can be obtained without charge from the Internet
by going to the adobe Web page (``http://www.adobe.com'') and
downloading the version of the Adobe Acrobat Reader which is
appropriate for your operating system, i.e., Windows, Unix, Macintosh,
etc. A set of more detailed instructions on how to download and use the
Adobe Acrobat Reader can be found on the BHPr Grants Web page under
``Notes on this WWW Page.
For applicants who are unable to access application materials
electronically, a hard copy will be provided by contacting the HRSA
Grants Application Center. The Center may be contacted by:
Telephone Number: 1-888-300-HRSA.
FAX Number: 301-309-0579.
Email Address: [email protected].
Completed applications should be returned to: Grant Management
Officer (CFDA#), HRSA Grants Applications Center, 40 West Gude Drive,
Suite 100, Rockville, Maryland 20850.
Questions regarding grants policy and business management issues
should be directed to: Ms. Diane Murray, Grants Management Specialist,
Bureau of Health Professions, Health Resources and Services
Administration, Parklawn Building, Room 8C-26, 5600 Fishers Lane,
Rockville, Maryland 20857, Telephone: (301) 443-6857, FAX: (301) 443-
6343, Email: [email protected]
If additional programmatic information is needed, please contact:
Herbert Traxler, Ph.D., Office of Research and Planning, Bureau of
Health Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration,
Parklawn Building, Room 8-47, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland
20857, Telephone: (301) 443-6662 or 3148, FAX: (301) 443-8003 Email:
[email protected]
Paperwork Reduction Act
The standard application form PHS 398, Application for Public
Health Service Grant, will be used for this program and has been
approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the Paperwork
Reduction Act. The OMB Clearance Number is 0925-0001.
The deadline date for receipt of applications is August 22, 1997.
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.
Dated: July 16, 1997.
Claude Earl Fox,
Acting Administrator.
[FR Doc. 97-19246 Filed 7-22-97; 8:45 am]
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