[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 194 (Tuesday, October 9, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57335-57337]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-19737]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Notice of a Cooperative Agreement with Meharry Medical College

AGENCY: Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the 
Secretary, Office of Public Health and Science, Office of Minority 
Health.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Office of Minority Health (OMH), Office of Public Health 
and Science, announces that it will enter into a cooperative agreement 
with Meharry Medical College (MMC). This cooperative agreement is an 
umbrella cooperative agreement and will establish the programmatic 
framework in which specific projects can be supported by various 
agencies during the project period.
    The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to strengthen the 
nation's capacity to prepare health professionals from disadvantaged 
backgrounds to serve minority populations and to develop a national 
model for improving health care delivery to indigent and underserved 
citizens. The ultimate goal is to improve the health status of 
minorities and disadvantaged people and increase the diversity of the 
health-related workforce.

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DATES: Persons requesting additional information about this notice 
should contact the OPHS Office of Grants Management. This cooperative 
agreement will be effective September 28, 2007.

    Authority: This cooperative agreement is authorized under 42 
U.S.C. 300u-6, section 1707 of the Public Health Service Act, as 
amended.

The Catalogue of Federal Domestic Assistance number is 93.004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If you are interested in obtaining 
additional information regarding this project, contact Ms. Sonsiere 
Cobb-Souza, Director, Division of Program Operations, Office of 
Minority Health, 1101 Wootton Parkway, Suite 600, Rockville, Maryland 
20852 or telephone (240) 453-8444.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Funding Opportunity Description

Background

    The health status of African Americans is dependent on the 
availability of a substantial pool of black physicians because these 
doctors are much more likely than their white colleagues to locate 
their practices in areas with large minority populations.\1\ According 
to the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, these areas are 
usually medically underserved as well.
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    \1\ Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Focus 
Magazine, Can Black Doctors Survive?, October 1997, retrieved 
November 30, 2005 from the Joint Center for Political and Economic 
Studies Web Site: http://www.jointcenter.org/publications1/focus/focusPDFs/1997/oct97.pdf.
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    Furthermore, 46 percent of the patients of black doctors are black, 
and nearly six times as many black patients are cared for by black 
physicians as by non-black physicians.\2\ Studies also show that 
minority patients have higher levels of satisfaction in race/ethnicity 
concordant settings. Patients tend to rate their physicians' 
communication style, which is correlated with patient satisfaction, 
higher in race/ethnicity-concordant relationships.\3\
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    \2\ Ibid.
    \3\ Missing Persons: Minorities in the Health Professions, A 
Report of the Sullivan Commission on Diversity in the Health Care 
Workforce, retrieved February 10, 2006 from the Sullivan Commission 
Web site: http://admissions.duhs.duke.edu/sullivancommission/index.cfm.
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    Throughout the twenty-first century, the number of racial and 
ethnic minorities is expected to steadily increase and, by mid-century, 
they will constitute a new U.S. majority. The African American 
population is expected to almost double from 36 million to 61 
million.\4\ MMC has graduated more black physicians than any other 
medical school. In order to continue this educational trend and flow of 
black physicians into medically underserved areas, OMH will enter into 
an umbrella cooperative agreement with MMC. Assistance will be provided 
only to MMC to accomplish the objectives of this cooperative agreement 
because it has the following combination of factors:
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    \4\ Ibid.
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    1. The majority of MMC's graduates practice in medically 
underserved rural and inner city areas. Of its almost 4,000 living 
alumni throughout the United States, 78 percent serve lower 
socioeconomic and disadvantaged urban and rural communities.
    2. MMC has historically trained a significant number of African 
American physicians and dentists in the United States. More than 15 
percent of African Americans who receive doctoral degrees in medicine, 
dentistry, and the biomedical sciences each year are Meharry graduates.
    3. In each of the past five years, MMC has graduated the largest 
number of African American Ph.D.s in the biomedical sciences of any 
academic institution in the nation.
    4. MMC is the largest private, independent, historically minority 
institution in the United States exclusively dedicated to health 
professions education and training.

Award Information

    This cooperative agreement will be awarded in FY 2007 for a 12-
month budget period within a project period of five years. Depending 
upon the types of projects and availability of funds, it is anticipated 
that this cooperative agreement will initially receive approximately 
$1,200,000. Continuation awards within the project period will be made 
on the basis of satisfactory progress, development of an approved 
application, and the availability of funds.

Eligibility Information

    Assistance will be provided only to the Meharry Medical College.
    Under this cooperative agreement, OMH will:
    1. Serve as the HHS lead in collaboration with partner agencies to 
provide financial assistance and programmatic guidance to MMC;
    2. Meet with MMC representatives to discuss and approve work plans, 
including objectives, data integrity and confidentiality, evaluation 
techniques and budget items;
    3. Provide technical assistance relative to project design and 
implementation, monitor progress of project activities, and evaluate 
progress and reports; and
    4. Review and approve the implementation and dissemination of 
relevant project findings, final reports and project products prior to 
dissemination to public and private parties.
    MMC will:
    1. Continue to develop racial and ethnic minority health care 
professionals that are well-educated about health disparities, prepared 
to address diseases that adversely impact minority populations, and 
committed to practicing and delivering community-oriented health care 
services in medically underserved areas;
    2. Work toward increasing the number of residents of other area 
health professions institutions into the in-patient and ambulatory care 
services of Nashville General Hospital at the Meharry campus for the 
purpose of providing those residents experience in working with and 
increasing available services to minority and disadvantaged 
populations;
    3. Continue its collaborative relationship with Vanderbilt 
University Medical Center (the Meharry-Vanderbilt Alliance) to further 
expand collaborative research and research training initiatives at MMC 
(particularly addressing health disparities) through collaborative 
research projects, increase the number of shared clerkships, and expand 
primary care experiences for students from both institutions through 
the joint residency program;
    4. Implement an Office of Educational Development and Support 
designed to support students identified as being at-risk by providing 
workshops to improve test-taking and time/stress management skills, 
application and interview skills workshops, primary care exposure and 
United States Medical Licensure Examination review;
    5. Establish a program to track students' progress and ultimate 
process of the program in improving the number of physicians practicing 
in minority and medically underserved areas;
    6. Expand the MMC Clinical Skills Assessment Center and provide 
enhanced training in cultural competency so that students will 
demonstrate improvement in their cultural awareness, attitude, 
knowledge and skills;
    7. Expand health disparity research and research training 
activities through the development and implementation of a library 
modernization plan that will expand library resources to community-

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based providers, enhance biomedical informatics services, and increase 
behavioral and population-based research resources; and
    8. Provide a report of the initial practice locations of MMC 
medical and dental graduates for each of the past 10 years and the 
number of students completing their education during the project period 
that were assisted by this program.

    Dated: October 2, 2007.
Mirtha R. Beadle,
Deputy Director, Office of Minority Health.
 [FR Doc. E7-19737 Filed 10-5-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-29-P