[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 155 (Monday, August 14, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 54972-54975]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-17318]
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DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
38 CFR Part 17
RIN 2900-AR98
VA Health Professional Scholarship Program
AGENCY: Department of Veterans Affairs.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: VA proposes to amend its regulations that govern the VA Health
Professional Scholarship Program (HPSP) by implementing the mandates of
the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which would expand the number of
scholarships available to those who are pursuing degrees or training in
mental health disciplines. We also propose to
[[Page 54973]]
make a technical correction under the Paperwork Reduction Act section
to correct an approved OMB control number.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before October 13, 2023.
ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted through www.regulations.gov.
Except as provided below, comments received before the close of the
comment period will be available at www.regulations.gov for public
viewing, inspection, or copying, including any personally identifiable
or confidential business information that is included in a comment. We
post the comments received before the close of the comment period on
the following website as soon as possible after they have been
received: https://www.regulations.gov. VA will not post on
Regulations.gov public comments that make threats to individuals or
institutions or suggest that the commenter will take actions to harm
the individual. VA encourages individuals not to submit duplicative
comments. We will post acceptable comments from multiple unique
commenters even if the content is identical or nearly identical to
other comments. Any public comment received after the comment period's
closing date is considered late and will not be considered in the final
rulemaking.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicole Nedd, Director, Scholarships
and Clinical Education, Workforce Management, 810 Vermont Ave NW,
Washington, DC 20420. (504-507-4985). (This is not a toll-free
telephone number.)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pursuant to sections 7601 through 7619,
7633, 7634, and 7636 of title 38, United States Code (U.S.C.) and the
implementing regulations at sections 17.600 through 17.612 of title 38,
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), VA has established the HPSP to
assist in providing an adequate supply of trained health-care personnel
for VA and the Nation. The purpose of the HPSP is to award scholarships
to students pursuing a course of study leading to a degree in certain
health care occupations, listed in 38 U.S.C. 7401(1) and (3). See Sec.
17.600. The HPSP allows VA to provide scholarship awards to facilitate
recruitment and retention of employees in several hard-to-fill health
care occupations. Id.
Pursuant to Sec. 17.603(a), HPSP scholarships will be awarded only
when necessary to assist VA in alleviating shortages or anticipated
shortages of personnel in certain health professions. Current
paragraphs (b)(1) through (2) further explain that HPSP scholarships
will be awarded to physicians, dentists, and other health care
professions. Under Sec. 17.603(b)(1)(i), VA will award not less than
an additional 50 HPSP scholarships (83 total) each year to individuals
who are accepted for enrollment or are enrolled in a program of
education or training leading to employment as a physician or dentist
until such date as VA determines that the staffing shortage of
physicians and dentists in VA is less than 500. Additionally, VA will
grant HPSP scholarships in a course of study in those disciplines or
programs other than physician or dentist where recruitment is necessary
for the improvement of veterans' health care as listed in 38 U.S.C.
7401(1) and (3). See Sec. 17.603(b)(2).
On December 29, 2022, the Consolidated Appropriations Act (the
Act), Public Law 117-328, was enacted into law. Section 104(a) of
Division V of the Act expands the HPSP by requiring VA to specifically
award scholarships to applicants who are pursuing degrees or training
in mental health disciplines, including advanced practice nursing (with
a focus on mental health or substance use disorder), psychology, and
social work. This section requires that VA provide no fewer than an
additional 50 awards (as compared to academic year 2021) to such
applicants per academic year starting in academic year 2022.
To comply with the mandate of section 104(a) of Division V of the
Act, we propose to amend Sec. 17.603(b). We also propose to make a
technical correction to Sec. 17.602 to correctly reflect the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) control number for the approved collection
of information.
Section 17.603 Availability of HPSP Scholarships
Section 17.603 establishes the availability of HPSP scholarships.
Paragraph (b) provides for the fields of education that qualify for the
HPSP scholarship. We propose to redesignate current paragraph (b)(2) as
new paragraph (b)(3) without making changes to the current regulation
text which explains when VA will grant HPSP scholarships to other
health care professions. Consistent with section 104(a) of Division V
of the Act, we propose to add a new paragraph (b)(2) to state that
notwithstanding paragraphs (b)(1) and (3) of this section, VA will
award not less than 83 HPSP scholarships each year to individuals who
are accepted for or are enrolled in a program of education or training
leading to employment in a mental health discipline, including, but
limited to, advanced practice nursing (with a focus on mental health or
substance use disorder), psychology, or social work. Because a mental
health care professional may be eligible to receive an HPSP scholarship
under current paragraph (b)(1) or proposed paragraph (b)(3), we would
add that such professionals would be awarded a scholarship pursuant to
paragraph (b)(2) notwithstanding an applicant's eligibility under
paragraphs (b)(1) or (b)(3) of Sec. 17.603.
We are required by section 104(a) of Division V of the Act to
increase the amount of scholarships to individuals who pursued
education leading to employment in advanced practice nursing (with a
focus on mental health or substance use disorder), psychology, or
social work by not fewer than an additional 50 awards for academic year
2022 (as compared to academic year 2021). Therefore, we propose to
award not less than 83 HPSP scholarships for mental health disciplines
as VA awarded a combined total of 33 HPSP scholarships to individuals
who pursued education leading to employment in mental health
disciplines during academic year 2022. However, we will not be able to
implement the mandates of section 104(a) of Division V of the Act
during academic year 2022 because the application period for that year
has already passed. VA usually starts accepting applications for an
academic year during the spring of the prior academic year. For
example, to award HPSP scholarships for an academic year that starts in
September 2024, the applications must be submitted and granted during
the spring 2024. VA does not anticipate awarding these additional HPSP
scholarships until spring 2024 for academic year 2024.
While section 104(a) of Division V of the Act provided that VA
award HPSP scholarships to individuals who are pursuing a course of
education leading to employment in mental health disciplines, including
advanced practice nursing (with a focus on mental health or substance
use disorder), psychology, and social work, we would clarify in
proposed paragraph (b)(2) that mental health disciplines include, but
are not limited to, advanced practice nursing (with a focus on mental
health or substance use disorder), psychology, or social work.
(emphasis added). The plain language reading of section 104(a) of the
Division V of the Act could imply that an individual must be pursuing
all three disciplines simultaneously in order to receive the HPSP
scholarship
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by using the term ``and''. However, we believe that the correct term
should be ``or'' because most individuals would only be pursuing one of
the three disciplines cited in section 104(a) of Division V of the Act.
We, therefore, propose to change the term ``and'' to ``or'' by stating
that the HPSP scholarships would be awarded for mental health
disciplines, which include, but are not limited to, advanced practice
nursing (with a focus on mental health or substance use disorder),
psychology, or social work.
In addition, as there are other mental health disciplines, we do
not provide an exhaustive list of such disciplines. Rather, we propose
including the examples Congress included in the law, but noting that
scholarships under proposed paragraph (b)(2) are not limited to this
list of mental health disciplines. Other mental health disciplines may
include licensed professional mental health counselor, marriage and
family therapist, physician assistants, and rehabilitation counseling.
Technical Correction
Section 17.602 currently contains an incorrect approved Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) information collection control number. The
information collection for this section has been approved by OMB and
has been assigned OMB control number 2900-0793. However, Sec. 17.602
contains the incorrect OMB control number of 2900-0352. We propose to
update Sec. 17.602 to reflect the correct and approved OMB control
number.
Executive Orders 12866,13563, and 14094
Executive Orders 12866 (Regulatory Planning and Review) direct
agencies to assess the costs and benefits of available regulatory
alternatives and, when regulation is necessary, to select regulatory
approaches that maximize net benefits (including potential economic,
environmental, public health and safety effects, and other advantages;
distributive impacts; and equity). Executive Order 13563 (Improving
Regulation and Regulatory Review) emphasizes the importance of
quantifying both costs and benefits, reducing costs, harmonizing rules,
and promoting flexibility. Executive Order 14094 (Executive Order on
Modernizing Regulatory Review) supplements and reaffirms the
principles, structures, and definitions governing contemporary
regulatory review established in Executive Order 12866 of September 30,
1993 (Regulatory Planning and Review), and Executive Order 13563 of
January 18, 2011 (Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review). The
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs has determined that this
rulemaking is not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order
12866, as amended by Executive Order 14094. The Regulatory Impact
Analysis associated with this rulemaking can be found as a supporting
document at www.regulations.gov.
Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Secretary hereby certifies that this proposed rule would not
have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities as they are defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5
U.S.C. 601-612). This proposed rule would solely be operated and
administered within VA and would only affect individuals who apply and
are awarded an HPSP scholarship. On this basis, the Secretary certifies
that the adoption of this proposed rule would not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities as they are
defined in the Regulatory Flexibility Act. Therefore, under 5 U.S.C.
605(b), the initial and final regulatory flexibility analysis
requirements of 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604 do not apply.
Unfunded Mandates
The Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 requires, at 2 U.S.C.
1532, that agencies prepare an assessment of anticipated costs and
benefits before issuing any rule that may result in the expenditure by
State, local, and tribal governments, in the aggregate, or by the
private sector, of $100 million or more (adjusted annually for
inflation) in any one year. This proposed rule would have no such
effect on State, local, and tribal governments, or on the private
sector.
Paperwork Reduction Act
Although this proposed rule contains an increase in the provisions
constituting a collection of information under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521), this increase is
already captured in an existing collection of information. The
collections of information for 38 CFR 17.602 are currently approved by
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and have been assigned OMB
control number 2900-0793. However, Sec. 17.602 incorrectly reflects
OMB control number 2900-0352. We propose to correct this technical
error in this rulemaking by updating the reference in Sec. 17.602 to
reflect OMB control number 2900-0793.
List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 17
Administrative practice and procedure, Health care, Health
facilities, Health professions, Scholarships and fellowships.
Signing Authority
Denis McDonough, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, approved this
document on August 7, 2023, and authorized the undersigned to sign and
submit the document to the Office of the Federal Register for
publication electronically as an official document of the Department of
Veterans Affairs.
Consuela Benjamin,
Regulation Development Coordinator, Office of Regulation Policy &
Management, Office of General Counsel, Department of Veterans Affairs.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Department of Veterans
Affairs proposes to amend 38 CFR part 17 as set forth below:
PART 17--MEDICAL
0
1. The authority citation for part 17 is amended by adding an entry for
Sec. Sec. 17.600 through 17.612, in numerical order, to read as
follows:
Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501, and as noted in specific sections.
* * * * *
Sections 17.600 through 17.612 are also issued under 38 U.S.C.
7601-7619, 7633, 7634, 7636, and sec. 104(a), div. V, Pub. L. 117-
328.
* * * * *
0
2. Amend Sec. 17.602 by revising the parenthetical at the end of the
section to read as follows.
Sec. 17.602 Eligibility.
* * * * *
(Approved by the Office of Management and Budget under control number
2900-0793)
0
3. Amend Sec. 17.603 by:
0
a. Redesignating paragraph (b)(2) as new paragraph (b)(3); and
0
b. Adding new paragraph (b)(2).
The addition reads as follows:
Sec. 17.603 Availability of HPSP scholarships.
* * * * *
(b) * * *
(2) Mental health disciplines. Notwithstanding paragraphs (b)(1)
and (3) of this section, VA will award not less than 83 HPSP
scholarships each year to individuals who are accepted for or are
enrolled in a program of education or training leading to employment in
a mental health discipline, including, but limited to, advanced
practice nursing (with a focus
[[Page 54975]]
on mental health or substance use disorder), psychology, or social
work.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2023-17318 Filed 8-11-23; 8:45 am]
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