[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 77 (Tuesday, April 22, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19835-19837]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-9872]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

[HRSA-03-088]


Rural Access to Emergency Devices (RAED) Grant Program

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice of availability of funds.

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SUMMARY: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 
announces that of approximately $12,500,000 for fiscal year (FY) 2003 
to provide grants for the purchase, placement and training in the use 
of automated external defibrillators (AEDs) and related activities in 
eligible rural areas. HRSA estimates that approximately 50 awards will 
be made to community partnerships, in collaboration with State Offices 
of Emergency Medical Services, for FY 2003. This is assuming one award 
per State. The project period will consist of three years, to include 
two non-competitive continuations for years two and three. All funding 
is subject to the availability of funds. These grants will be awarded 
under the authority of Pub. L. 106-505, Title IV--Cardiac Arrest 
Survival, Subtitle B--Rural Access to Emergency Devices, 42 U.S.C. 
254c, note. The Office of Rural Health Policy will administer the Rural 
Access to Emergency Devices (RAED) Grant Program.

DATES: Applicants interested in applying for funding under this program 
are requested to fax or mail a letter of intent to the Office of Rural 
Health Policy by May 5, 2003, at fax number (301) 443-2803. Mailed 
letters of intent should be sent to Evan Mayfield, Office of Rural 
Health Policy, HRSA, Room 9A-55, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, 
Rockville, MD 20857. A copy of this letter of intent should also be 
faxed or mailed to the appropriate State Office of Emergency Medical 
Services by this same date. The letter of intent need only include the 
lead applicant's organizational name, proposed number of AEDs requested 
and a proposed listing of those in their community partnership. The 
deadline for receipt of applications is June 18, 2003. Applications 
will be considered on time if they are either received on or before the 
deadline date in the HRSA Grants Application Center or postmarked on or 
before the deadline date.

ADDRESSES: To receive an application kit, applicants may telephone the 
HRSA Grants Application Center at (877) 477-2123 (877-HRSA-123) or the 
application forms can be downloaded via the Web at http://www.ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/funding.htm. The instructions for preparing 
the applications will be included with the grant guidance as part of 
the grant application kit. The RAED Grant Program uses PHS Forms 424 
and 5161 for applications. Applicants must use the administrative code 
``RAED,'' Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number 93.259 and HRSA 
Program Announcement number HRSA03-088 when requesting applications. 
The CFDA is a Government-wide compendium of enumerated Federal 
programs, projects, services and activities that provide assistance. 
All applications must be mailed or delivered to the Grants Management 
Officer, Office of Rural Health: HRSA Grants Application Center, 901 
Russell Avenue, Suite 450, Gaithersburg, MD 20879: telephone (877) 477-
2123.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Evan Mayfield, Office of Rural Health 
Policy, HRSA, email address [email protected], telephone number

[[Page 19836]]

(301) 443-0835 and fax number (301) 443-2803.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

(1) Program Background and Objectives

    The Rural Access to Emergency Devices Act, 42 U.S.C. 254c, note, 
authorizes grants to community partnerships to provide for the 
purchase, placement and training in the use of automated external 
defibrillators (AEDs) and related activities in eligible rural areas. 
An applicant must be a multi-county, regional or State-wide consortium 
of rural community organizations applying as a community partnership. 
Each community partnership must have a designated lead applicant to 
apply as the grantee of record and act as a fiscal agent for the 
partnership. Funding preference will be granted to applications that 
are State-wide in scope. Preference moves those approved applicants 
carrying the preference ahead of approved applicants without the 
preference. A funding priority will be given to State-wide community 
partnerships that identify their State Office of Emergency Medical 
Services as the lead applicant and include as partners emergency first 
response entities (e.g., EMS, law enforcement and fire departments) 
that are currently operating without AEDs. Priority gives an 
application additional points during the scoring process of approved 
applications. In order to qualify as a State-wide community 
partnership, not every eligible county within the State need apply. 
However, a State-level office must be the lead applicant. Selected 
locations for AED placement around the State should be identified by 
the lead applicant to achieve fair geographical, organizational (e.g., 
first response versus public access placement) and resource allocation.
    The State Office of Emergency Medical Services is a logical lead 
applicant to administer funding to individual entities within the 
partnership, given its role in medical direction and regulation. Other 
State-level offices eligible to accept these Federal grant funds 
include the State Office of Rural Health or a division within the 
Department of Health. The State Office of Rural Health is a valuable 
resource for consulting in public access AED placement for those areas 
that lack EMS services, or are located too far away to be of practical 
benefit to a community. Community partnerships that apply without their 
State Office of Emergency Medical Services as the lead applicant are 
required to work with the State Office of Emergency Medical Services on 
issues related to medical direction and integration and placement of 
AEDs into existing EMS systems. Furthermore, such community 
partnerships must still demonstrate how they are State-wide in scope.

(2) Eligible Applicants

    Applicants must apply in the form of a community partnership. 
Interested eligible entities are encouraged to collaborate with a wide 
range of other providers in developing a broad-based consortium that 
will make up their community partnerships. These partnerships will 
include local first response entities (e.g., EMS, law enforcement and 
fire departments). In addition, local for- and non-profit entities that 
have a demonstrated concern about cardiac arrest survival rates may be 
included such as, but not limited to, community hospitals or clinics, 
nursing homes and senior citizen day care facilities, governmental 
facilities, athletic facilities, faith based and community based 
organizations and schools.
    All services provided by the community partnership must be provided 
in an eligible rural county or Rural-Urban Commuting Area zip codes. 
Each State-level office, acting on behalf of the community 
partnership(s) within its State, will be required to demonstrate how 
its services will be directed to the eligible rural areas. A complete 
listing of these eligible rural areas is available on the Web. Eligible 
rural counties can be found at http://www.ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/ruralcoI.htm and Rural-Urban Commuting Area zip codes can be found at 
http://www.ruralhealth.hrsa.gov/ruralcoZIPII.htm. Each is sorted by 
State.

(3) Review Criteria

    Applications should be no longer than 40 pages. Incomplete 
applications, applications in excess of the page limitation, or 
applications otherwise non-responsive will be returned without further 
review. Applications that are responsive will be evaluated for 
technical merit by an objective review panel convened specifically for 
this solicitation and in accordance with HRSA grants management 
policies and procedures. Applications will be assessed using the 
following criteria:
    (a) Need for AED equipment and training with documentation using 
any local standard enumerating average response and transport times (or 
include a plan on how these times will be recorded if there are no pre-
existing records of such) noting mileage to stabilizing and/or 
definitive care and cardiovascular mortality prevalence rates for the 
proposed response area(s);
    (b) Plan for a need-based placement of AEDs and accessibility plan 
for those AEDs;
    (c) Reasonableness of the proposed budget, including estimated AED 
purchasing, training and maintenance costs (include maintenance 
schedule);
    (d) How the grant award will be distributed within the community 
partnership, with identified names of who will receive funding for each 
entity within the partnership;
    (e) A listing of identified and approved CPR and AED training 
entities;
    (f) A listing of who will use the AEDs, and a reference to State 
laws regulating AED usage;
    (g) Integration into local EMS systems ensuring medical direction 
for documented protocols of care and legal oversight; and
    (h) A well-defined data collection and reporting mechanism via 
their State Office of Emergency Medical Services or the State Office of 
Rural Health should the former be unable to participate.
    A further explanation of these criteria will be included in the 
grant application guidance.
    Use of Funds: RAED grant program funding shall be used to: (1) 
Purchase automated external defibrillators that have been approved, or 
cleared for marketing, by the Food and Drug Administration; and (2), 
provide defibrillator and basic life support training in automated 
external defibrillator usage through the American Heart Association, 
the American Red Cross, or other nationally recognized training 
courses.
    Paperwork Reduction Act: The application form for the RAED Grant 
Program has been approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
under the Paperwork Reduction Act (Form-424). Should any of the data 
collection activities associated with this fall under the purview of 
the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, OMB clearance will be sought.
    Public Health System Impact Statement: This program is subject to 
the Public Health System Reporting Requirements (approved under OMB No. 
0937-0195). Under these requirements, the community-based non-
governmental applicant must prepare and submit a Public Health System 
Impact Statement (PHSIS). The PHSIS is intended to provide information 
to State and local health officials to keep them apprized of proposed 
health services grant applications submitted by community-

[[Page 19837]]

based organizations within their jurisdictions.
    Community-based non-governmental applicants are required to submit 
the following information to their local or State health authority, or 
State Office of Emergency Medical Services as appropriate, no later 
than the Federal application receipt due date of June 18, 2003:
    (a) A copy of the face page of the application (SF 424)
    (b) An abstract of the project not to exceed one page, which 
provides:
    (1) A description of the population to be served,
    (2) The proposed number of AEDs to be purchased and how many people 
will be trained within the community partnership,
    (3) A description of the coordination planned with the appropriate 
State agencies (ranging from required notification of AED placement to 
such agency agreeing to being the lead applicant and/or fiscal agent of 
a State-wide community partnership should they choose to).

Executive Order 12372

    This grant program is subject to the provisions of Executive Order 
12372 concerning intergovernmental review of Federal programs by 
appropriate State and local officials as implemented by 45 CFR part 
100. Executive Order 12372 allows States the option of setting up a 
system for reviewing applications from 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 (SPOC), a list of which will be included 
in the application kit, as early as possible to alert them to the 
prospective applications and receive any necessary instructions on the 
State process. All SPOC recommendations should be submitted to Darren 
Buckner, Office of Grants Management, HIV/AIDS Bureau, 5600 Fishers 
Lane, Room 11A-16, Rockville, Maryland 20857, (301) 443-1913. The due 
date for State process recommendations is 60 days after the application 
deadline of June 18, 2003, for competing applications for the RAED 
Grant Program. The granting agency does not guarantee to ``accommodate 
or explain'' State process recommendations it receives after that date. 
See part 148 of the PHS Grants Administration Manual, Intergovernmental 
Review of PHS Programs under Executive Order 12372, and 45 CFR part 100 
for a description of the review process and requirements.

    Dated: February 4, 2003.
Elizabeth M. Duke,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 03-9872 Filed 4-21-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P