[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 22, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 28189-28191]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-12771]


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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 cross-discipline 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 sub-contracts 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

[[Page 28190]]

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-of-practice 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

[[Page 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: [email protected].

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