[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 98 (Tuesday, May 22, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Page 28698]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-9792]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services


Medicaid Program; Notice of Single Source Grant Award to the 
State of Louisiana for the Grant Entitled ``Deficit Reduction Act--
Hurricane Katrina Healthcare Related Professional Workforce Supply''

AGENCY: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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    Funding Amount: $15,000,000.
    Period of Performance: March 1, 2007-September 30, 2009.
SUMMARY: On March 1, 2007, this grant program was made available to the 
State of Louisiana to fund State payments for professional healthcare 
workforce fulfillment in Greater New Orleans, which has continued to 
face unique health professional shortages as a result of Hurricane 
Katrina and its subsequent floods. With nearly 4,500 doctors displaced 
and approximately 50 percent of the physicians who worked in Region 1 
before Hurricane Katrina, no longer practicing there, Greater New 
Orleans is experiencing a shortage of primary care doctors to see 
Medicaid and uninsured patients.
    Funding recently awarded under this grant program must be used by 
the State to make payments for purposes of recruitment and retention of 
professional healthcare staff for the impacted communities. For 
purposes of this grant, impacted communities are those four parishes 
located in the State of Louisiana that comprise Region 1, as defined by 
the Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals, namely, Orleans, 
Jefferson, St. Bernard, and Plaquemines.
    The grant funds must be used only for purposes of recruitment or 
retention of healthcare workforce professionals in Greater New Orleans. 
The State has been given flexibility in determining the payment 
methodology, the scope and type of activities, criteria for awarding 
payment, and the amount of payments to be made to such professionals. 
Payment recipients are limited to licensed healthcare professionals. 
Activities include those that were recommended by the Louisiana Health 
Care Redesign Collaborative (LHCRC) in their concept paper submitted to 
the Secretary on October 20, 2006. These activities include but are not 
limited to: Income guarantees, annual medical malpractice payment 
relief, loan repayments, and incentive payments (relocation expenses 
and sign-on bonuses). Grant funds may not be distributed to staff who 
are no longer providing professional healthcare services in the Greater 
New Orleans area at the time of the disbursement of grant funds. All 
payments must be made under this grant program by the end of federal 
fiscal year 2009.
    Payments to physicians and other professional healthcare workforce 
staff under this program are not allowed to be considered payments for 
Medicare, Medicaid or other specific services, and are not available as 
the non-Federal share of expenditures or for supplemental 
disproportionate share hospital payments. Payments cannot be made 
conditional on the provision of any particular items or services by the 
professionals. Grant applications requesting funds to be used for the 
non-Federal share of Medicaid or other federal grant expenditures or 
for supplemental Medicaid disproportionate share hospital payments will 
not be considered.
    This award was made based on the authority granted by section 6201 
of the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA). In particular, section 6201(a)(4) 
of the DRA provides authority to the Secretary, Department of Health 
and Human Services (DHHS), to make payments to States to restore access 
to healthcare in communities impacted by Hurricane Katrina.
    Justification For Exception To Competition: The Secretary invoked 
his authority to restore healthcare in impacted communities affected by 
Hurricane Katrina by offering this unique funding opportunity which 
will give further incentive to the retention and recruitment of 
healthcare workforce professionals in Greater New Orleans. Louisiana is 
the only State with knowledge and ability to administer a grant 
designed to affect impacted Louisiana communities. For this reason, the 
Secretary has directed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to 
issue a single-source award to the State of Louisiana to increase 
access to healthcare services and to relieve economic pressures 
suffered by healthcare providers resulting from both the hurricane and 
its subsequent flooding.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wendy J. Taparanskas, Ph.D., Health 
Insurance Specialist, Office of the Center Director, Centers for 
Medicaid and State Operations, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
Services, Mail Stop S2-26-12, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 
21244, (410) 786-5245.

    Authority: Section 6201(a)(4) of the Deficit Reduction Act of 
2005 (DRA).

    Dated: May 7, 2007.
Leslie V. Norwalk,
Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Grant 
Award-Louisiana
[FR Doc. E7-9792 Filed 5-21-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4120-01-P