[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 215 (Monday, November 7, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 68770-68772]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-28670]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Proposed Eligibility Criteria for the Centers of Excellence 
Program in Health Professions Education for Under-Represented Minority 
Individuals

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice requests comments on proposed eligibility criteria 
for the Centers of Excellence (COE) program in health professions 
education for under-represented minority (URM) individuals (See Title 
VII, Section 736 of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 293 (2011) 
as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Public 
Law 111-148, Sec.  5401 (2010)). When finalized, these eligibility 
criteria will be used to determine the eligibility of designated health 
professions schools to apply for COE funding in fiscal year (FY) 2012 
and subsequent fiscal years. Funding is dependent on the availability 
of appropriated funds for the COE program. The designated health 
professions schools are schools of allopathic medicine, osteopathic 
medicine, dentistry, pharmacy, and graduate programs in behavioral or 
mental health. This does not apply to Historically Black Colleges and 
Universities (HBCUs) eligible to establish a COE, under PHS Act section 
736(c)(2).

DATES: Interested persons are invited to comment within 30 days of the 
publication of this notice. All comments received on or before those 30 
days complete will be considered.

ADDRESSES: All written comments concerning this notice should be 
submitted to Dr. Joan Weiss, Director, Division of Public Health and 
Interdisciplinary Education, at the contact information below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anyone requesting additional details 
should contact Dr. Joan Weiss, Bureau of Health Professions, Health 
Resources and Services Administration. Dr. Weiss may be reached in one 
of three following methods: (1) Via written request to: Dr. Joan Weiss, 
Designated Federal Official, Bureau of Health Professions, Health 
Resources and Services Administration, Parklawn Building, Room 9-36, 
5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20852; (2) via

[[Page 68771]]

telephone at (301) 443-6950; or (3) via email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Purpose: The COE program supports programs of excellence in health 
professions education for URM individuals in designated health 
professions schools. The categories of designated health professions 
schools subject to this notice are: (1) Hispanic, (2) Native American, 
and (3) ``Other'' health professions schools that meet the program 
requirements. Centers of Excellence provide academic enhancement 
programs to URM individuals; develop a large and competitive applicant 
pool to pursue health professions careers; and improve the capacity of 
schools to recruit, train, and retain URM faculty. The COE program 
facilitates faculty and student research on health issues particularly 
affecting URM groups. In addition, the program carries out activities 
to improve information resources, clinical education, curricula and 
cultural competence of schools' graduates relating to minority health 
issues. Training students to provide health services to a significant 
number of URM individuals at community-based health facilities and 
providing financial assistance, as available and appropriate, are also 
required.
    Eligibility Criteria: To be eligible for funding, the PHS Act 
requires designated health professions schools to meet each of four 
criteria. The schools must: (1) Have a significant number of URM 
students enrolled, including individuals accepted for enrollment; (2) 
have been effective in assisting URM students to complete their 
educational program and receive the degree involved; (3) have been 
effective in recruiting URM students to enroll in and graduate from the 
school, including providing scholarships and other financial assistance 
and encouraging URM students at all levels of the educational pipeline 
to pursue health professions careers; and (4) have made significant 
recruitment efforts to increase the number of URM individuals serving 
in faculty or administrative positions at the school.
    The COE program aims to support institutions with a commitment to 
URMs, which includes demonstrated effectiveness in recruiting, 
teaching, training, and retaining current and future URM health 
professionals, both as practitioners and as faculty. This announcement 
details the proposed approach that the Secretary will use to assess 
whether schools and other eligible entities meet the eligible criteria 
defined in statute. Beginning in FY 2012, the following approach will 
be used to assess whether applicants meet eligibility criteria.
    A. Criterion one: The school must have a significant number of URM 
students enrolled in the designated health professions education 
program. The Secretary will determine the significant number for 
Hispanic and Native American COEs based on a percentage of the current 
number of URM students enrolled in these schools. This determination is 
unnecessary, however, for HBCUs because they meet the significant 
number condition by virtue of their definition. With respect to the 
eligible ``Other'' COE health professions schools, the PHS Act requires 
these schools to have a current enrollment of URMs above the national 
average.
    B. Criterion two: The second criterion requires designated health 
professions schools to be effective in assisting its URM students to 
successfully complete the program of education and to receive the 
appropriate professional degree. Graduation rates are calculated, 
determined, and provided by health professions schools applying for COE 
funding. To account for varying class sizes across the health 
professions schools, the graduation rate eligibility thresholds for 
Hispanic, Native American, and ``Other'' COEs in the designated health 
professions will be determined using the following procedure:
    1. Health professions schools and programs will be ranked according 
to the percentage of URMs (e.g., Hispanic, Native American, or 
``Other'') successfully graduating from such health professions schools 
or programs with degrees each year, as calculated by the total number 
of URM students graduating from the health professions school with 
degrees divided by the total number of students graduating with degrees 
in a given health professions school.
    2. The top quartile (75th percentile) will serve as the eligibility 
threshold for Hispanic, Native American, and ``Other'' COE applicants.
    3. The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 
Completions survey will provide the raw data for threshold analysis. 
IPEDS is a system of interrelated completed surveys conducted annually 
by the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education 
Statistics (NCES). The IPEDS collects data on postsecondary education 
in the United States, including the number of students who complete a 
postsecondary education program by type of program and level of award 
(certificate or degree). The IPEDS is available at http://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/DataFiles.aspx. Separate thresholds will be calculated 
and established for each of the following four categories: Allopathic 
and osteopathic medicine; pharmacy; dentistry; and, behavioral or 
mental health.
    Individual schools will be responsible for calculating their 
percentage of URM graduates with degrees. Schools' graduation rate 
percentages will be compared to the thresholds established through the 
methodology described above. If a school meets or exceeds the 
threshold, it will meet the graduation eligibility criterion for the 
COE program. To calculate their URM graduation percentage, health 
professions schools would:
    1. Sum the appropriate URM (Hispanic, Native American, or 
``Other'') population that completed and successfully graduated from 
the health professions school with degrees across the most recent three 
years (A).
    2. Sum the total student population that completed and successfully 
graduated from the health professions school with degrees across the 
most recent three years (B).
    3. Divide A by B to arrive at the average designated URM percentage 
of successful graduates from the health professions schools with 
degrees across the past three years.
    To be eligible for the COE program, Hispanic, Native American and 
``Other'' applicants must meet or exceed the proposed graduation 
thresholds. The proposed graduation threshold in each of the eligible 
fields of study is the 75th percentile of URM graduation rates as 
reported to the IPEDS. The 75th percentile was determined based on an 
analysis of the IPEDS Completions survey of 2009 data within the 
appropriate field of study, as defined by the Classification of 
Instructional Program (CIP) code system. The CIP is the accepted 
federal government statistical standard on instructional program 
classifications. The ``Total Programs'' per discipline represents the 
number of programs reporting a completions rate for the given CIP code 
in the U.S. within the IPEDS system.

Proposed Graduation Rate Eligibilty Thresholds

    The analysis would be as follows:

Allopathic And Osteopathic Medicine Programs (Doctors of Medicine, 
Doctors of Osteopathy)

Total Programs Reported in IPEDS = 142.
Hispanic graduation rate eligibility threshold = 6.3 percent.

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Native American graduation rate eligibility threshold = 1.0 percent.
``Other'' COE graduation rate eligibility threshold = 14.1 percent.

Dentistry (Doctors of Dental Surgery, Doctors of Dental Medicine)

Total Programs Reported in IPEDS = 59.
Hispanic graduation rate eligibility threshold = 7.1 percent.
Native American graduation rate eligibility threshold = 1.4 percent.
``Other'' COE graduation rate eligibility threshold = 13.5 percent.

Pharmacy (Doctor of Pharmacy)

Total Programs Reported in IPEDS = 94.
Hispanic graduation rate eligibility threshold = 3.5 percent.
Native American graduation rate eligibility threshold = 0.5 percent.*
Other COE graduation rate eligibility threshold = 10.0 percent.

Behavioral or Mental Health

Total Programs Reported in IPEDS = 1928.
Hispanic graduation rate eligibility threshold = 7.7 percent.
Native American graduation rate eligibility threshold = 0.66 percent.*
Other COE graduation rate eligibility threshold = 26.1 percent.

    * Due to the limited number of Native Americans graduating with 
a Doctor of Pharmacy or a graduate degree in Behavioral or Mental 
Health from the school of discipline, the proposed graduation rate 
eligibility threshold for these two disciplines is based on the mean 
percentage and not on the 75 percentile of Native Americans 
graduating with the required degree.

    C. Criterion three: The third criterion requires designated health 
professions schools to have effectively recruited URMs, including 
providing scholarships and other financial assistance for individuals 
enrolled in the school, and encouraging URM students from all levels of 
the education pipeline to pursue health professions careers. Such 
schools are responsible for establishing criteria for financial 
assistance, selecting recipients within the Centers of Excellence 
program, and making reasonable determinations of need for the level of 
financial assistance for the recipients. Each school will independently 
develop the criteria to receive financial assistance, submit this 
information in their application, where it collectively will be 
objectively reviewed by the peer review panel. The availability of 
financial assistance, as formulated by the health professions school, 
is designed to assist in increasing the level of URM health 
professionals who successfully complete the program, as well as 
increase their intent to practice in underserved areas.
    D. Criterion four: The fourth criterion requires designated health 
professions schools to have made a significant recruitment effort to 
increase the number of URM individuals serving in faculty or 
administrative positions at the school. A major COE program focus is to 
improve the capacity of the school to train, recruit, and retain URM 
faculty and administrative personnel. A health professions school 
should demonstrate over a 5-year period a ``significant effort'' to 
recruit and retain URM faculty and administrative positions based on 
the number of URM faculty and new URM hires.
    The catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance Number for the COE 
program is 93.157. This program is not subject to the provisions of 
Executive Order 12372, Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs (as 
implemented through 45 CFR part 100). Further, these programs are not 
subject to the Public Health Systems Reporting Requirements. The 
Centers of Excellence Program application is approved under OMB No. 
0915-0060.

    Dated: November 1, 2011.
Mary K. Wakefield,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2011-28670 Filed 11-4-11; 8:45 am]
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