[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 168 (Wednesday, August 31, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-21447]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: August 31, 1994]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Program Announcement for Grants for Programs for Physician
Assistants--Fiscal Year 1995
The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) announces
that applications for fiscal year (FY) 1995 Grants for Programs for
Physician Assistants are being accepted under the authority of section
750 title VII of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act, as amended by the
Health Professions Education Extension Amendments of 1992, Public Law
102-408, dated October 13, 1992.
The Administration's FY 1995 budget request for this program is
$6.5 million. Total continuation support recommended is $2.0 million.
It is anticipated that $4.5 million will be available to support
approximately 35 competing awards averaging $130,000.
This program announcement is subject to the appropriation of funds.
Applicants are advised that this application announcement is a
contingency action being taken to assure that should funds become
available for this purpose, they can be awarded in a timely fashion
consistent with the needs of the program as well as to provide for an
even distribution of funds throughout the fiscal year.
Faculty Development Activities
Section 750 of the PHS Act limits the total amount of support for
faculty development activities to no more than 10 percent of the total
annual appropriation for this program.
Previous Funding Experience
Previous funding experience information is provided to assist
potential applicants to make better informed decisions regarding
submission of an application for this program.
In FY 1994, HRSA reviewed 30 applications. Of those applications,
77 percent were approved and 23 percent were disapproved. Twenty-two
projects, or 73 percent of the applications received, were funded.
In FY 1993, there was no competitive cycle for this program.
In FY 1992, HRSA reviewed 40 applications. Of those applications,
88 percent were approved and 12 percent were disapproved. Twenty-seven
projects, or 68 percent of applications received, were funded.
Purpose
Section 750 of the PHS Act authorizes the award of grants to
accredited schools of medicine or osteopathic medicine and other public
or nonprofit private entities to assist in meeting the cost of
planning, developing and operating or maintaining programs for the
training of physician assistants; and to train faculty to teach in such
programs as defined under section 799(3) of the Public Health Service
Act.
To receive support, programs must meet the requirements of section
750 of the Act and program regulations implementing these sections
published at 42 CFR part 57, subparts H and I and section 791(b) of the
PHS Act.
Eligibility
Eligible applicants are accredited schools of medicine or
osteopathic medicine and other public or nonprofit private entities.
Eligible physician assistant programs are those which are either
accredited by the American Medical Association's Committee on Allied
Health Education and Accreditation (AMA-CAHEA) or its successor
organization, the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health
Education Programs (CAAHEP), or have received a Letter of Review from
the Accreditation Review Committee on Education for the Physician
Assistant (ARC-PA).
Period of Support
The initial period of Federal support will not exceed 5 years.
Assurance
In accordance with section 750(c) of the Act, eligible applicant
institutions must provide assurances that the institutions have
appropriate mechanisms for placing graduates of the training program in
positions for which they have been trained.
``Program for the Training of Physician Assistants'' is defined in
section 799 of the PHS Act as an educational program that (a) Has as
its objective the education of individuals who will, upon completion of
their studies in the program, be qualified to provide primary health
care under the supervision of a physician; and (b) meets regulations
prescribed by the Secretary in accordance with section 750(b).
National Health Objectives for the Year 2000
The Public Health Service (PHS) is committed to achieving the
health promotion and disease prevention objectives of Healthy People
2000, a PHS-led national activity for setting priority areas. The
Grants for Programs for Physician Assistants Program is related to the
priority area of Educational and Community-Based Programs.
Potential applicants may obtain a copy of Healthy People 2000 (Full
Report; Stock No. 017-001-00474-0) or Healthy People 2000 (Summary
Report; Stock No. 017-001-00473-1) through the Superintendent of
Documents, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402-9325
(Telephone (202) 783-3238).
Education and Service Linkage
As part of its long-range planning, HRSA will be targeting its
efforts to strengthening linkages between U.S. Public Health Service
education programs and programs which provide comprehensive primary
care services to the underserved.
Smoke-Free Workplace
The Public Health Service strongly encourages all grant recipients
to provide a smoke-free workplace and promote the non-use of all
tobacco products. This is consistent with the PHS mission to protect
and advance the physical and mental health of the American people.
Review Criteria
The review of applications will take into consideration the
following criteria:
1. The degree to which the project plan adequately provides for
meeting the requirements set forth in the regulations;
2. The potential effectiveness of the project in carrying out the
purposes of section 750 of the PHS Act and 42 CFR part 57, subparts H-
I;
3. The capability of the applicant to carry out the proposed
project;
4. The local, regional and national needs the project proposes to
serve;
5. The adequacy of the project's plan for placing graduates in
health professional shortage areas;
6. The soundness of the fiscal plan for assuring effective use of
grant funds;
7. The potential of the project to continue on a self-sustaining
basis after the period of grant support; and
8. The adequacy of the project's plan to develop and use methods
designed to attract and maintain minority and disadvantaged students to
train as physician assistants.
Other Considerations
In addition, the following funding factors may be applied in
determining the funding of approved applications:
1. Funding preference is defined as the funding of a specific
category or group of approved applications ahead of other categories or
groups of approved applications, such as competing continuation
projects ahead of new projects.
2. Funding priority is defined as the favorable adjustment of
aggregate review scores when applications meet specified objective
criteria.
It is not required that applicants request consideration for a
funding factor. Applications which do not request consideration for a
funding factor will be reviewed and given full consideration for
funding.
General Statutory Funding Preference
As provided in section 791(a) of the PHS Act, preference will be
given to any qualified applicant that--
(A) Has a high rate for placing graduates in practice settings
having the principal focus of serving residents of medically
underserved communities; or
(B) during the 2-year period preceding the fiscal year for which an
award is sought, has achieved a significant increase in the rate of
placing graduates in such settings. This preference will only be
applied to applications that rank above the 20th percentile that have
been recommended for approval by the peer review group.
``High rate'' means that 20 percent of the physician assistant
program graduates in academic year 1992-93 or academic year 1993-94,
whichever is greater, are spending at least 50 percent of their work
time in clinical practice in these settings.
``Significant increase in the rate'' means that, between academic
years 1992-93 and 1993-94, the rate of physician assistant program
graduates in these settings has increased by at least 50 percent and
that not less than 15 percent of the academic year 1993-94 graduates
are working in these settings.
Additional information concerning the implementation of this
preference was published in the Federal Register at 59 FR 15741, dated
April 4, 1994.
To allow new programs to compete more equitably in FY 1995,
criteria for the statutory and the administrative funding preferences
have been developed to apply only to them. These criteria are provided
in the application materials.
Funding Preference for Fiscal Year 1995
The following funding preference which was established in FY 1994
after public comment at 59 FR 2624, dated May 9, 1994, will be
continued in FY 1995:
A funding preference will be given to established physician
assistant training programs which can demonstrate that (a) more than 50
percent of their graduates in 1994 entered a generalist specialty
(family medicine, general internal medicine, general pediatrics); or
(b) an average of 40 percent of graduates over the last 3 years (1992,
1993, and 1994) entered a generalist specialty.
Funding Priority for FY 1995
The following priority which was established in FY 1994 after
public comment at 59 FR 2065, dated May 19, 1994, will be continued in
FY 1995:
A funding priority will be given to approved applications that can
demonstrate either substantial progress over the last 3 years or a
significant experience of 10 or more years in enrolling and graduating
trainees from those minority or low-income populations identified as at
risk of poor health outcomes.
To allow new programs to compete more equitably in FY 1995,
criteria for the funding priority have been developed to apply only to
them. These criteria are provided in the application materials.
Information Requirements Provision
Under section 791(b) of the Act, the Secretary may make an award
under the Grants for Programs for Physician Assistants only if the
applicant for the award submits to the Secretary the following
information:
1. A description of rotations or preceptorships for students, or
clinical training programs for residents, that have the principal focus
of providing health care to medically underserved communities.
2. The number of faculty on admissions committees who have a
clinical practice in community-based ambulatory settings in medically
underserved communities.
3. With respect to individuals who are from disadvantaged
backgrounds or from medically underserved communities, the number of
such individuals who are recruited for academic programs of the
applicant, the number of such individuals who are admitted to such
programs, and the number of such individuals who graduate from such
programs.
4. If applicable, the number of recent graduates who have chosen
careers in primary health care.
5. The number of recent graduates whose practices are serving
medically underserved communities.
6. A description of whether and to what extent the applicant is
able to operate without Federal assistance under this title.
Additional details concerning the implementation of this
information requirement were published in the Federal Register at 58 FR
43642, dated August 17, 1993, and will be provided in the application
materials.
Paperwork Reduction Act
The standard application form PHS 6025-1, HRSA Competing Training
Grant Application, General Instructions and supplement for this program
have been approved by the Office of Management and Budget under the
Paperwork Reduction Act. This approval includes the burden for
collection of information for the statutory general preference and for
the information requirement provision. (OMB 0915-0060, expiration date
7/31/95)
Application Requests
Requests for application materials and questions regarding grants
policy and business management issues should be directed to: Ms. Judy
Bowen, Grants Management Specialist (D-21), Bureau of Health
Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, 5600 Fishers
Lane, Room 8C-26, Parklawn Building, Rockville, Maryland 20857,
Telephone: (301) 443-6960, FAX: (301) 443-6343.
Completed applications should be forwarded to the Grants Management
Branch at the above address.
Questions regarding programmatic information should be directed to:
Mr. Louis D. Coccodrilli, Acting Chief, AHEC and Special Programs
Branch, Division of Medicine, Bureau of Health Professions, Health
Resources and Services Administration, 5600 Fishers Lane, Room 9A-05,
Parklawn Building, Rockville, Maryland 20857, Telephone: (301) 443-
6950, FAX: (301) 443-8890.
The application deadline date for receipt of applications is
December 12, 1994. Applications shall be considered to be ``on time''
if they are either:
1. Received on or before the established deadline date, or
2. Sent on or before the established deadline and received in time
for orderly processing. (Applicants should request a legibly dated U.
S. Postal Service postmark or obtain a legibly dated receipt from a
commercial carrier or the U. S. Postal Service. Private metered
postmarks shall not be acceptable as proof of timely mailing.)
Late applications not accepted for processing will be returned to
the applicant.
This program is listed at 93.886 in the Catalog of Federal Domestic
Assistance. It is not subject to the provisions of Executive Order
12372, Intergovernmental Review of Federal Programs (as implemented
through 45 CFR part 100).
This program is not subject to the Public Health System Reporting
Requirements.
Dated: August 25, 1994.
Ciro V. Sumaya,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 94-21447 Filed 8-30-94; 8:45 am]
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