[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 171 (Thursday, September 4, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46747-46749]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-23508]
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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES
Indian Health Service
Availability of Funds for Loan Repayment Program for Repayment of
Health Professions Educational Loans
AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS.
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: The Administration's budget request for fiscal year (FY) 1998
includes $11,706,000 for the Indian Health Service Loan Repayment
Program for health professions educational loans (undergraduate and
graduate) in return for full-time clinical service in Indian health
programs. It is anticipated that $11,706,000 will be available to
support approximately 250 competing awards averaging $50,000 per award.
This program announcement is subject to the appropriation of funds.
This notice is being published early to coincide with the recruitment
activity of the IHS which competes with other Government and private
health management organizations to employ qualified health
professionals. Funds are required to be expended by September 30 of the
fiscal year. This program is authorized by section 108 of the Indian
Health Care Improvement Act (IHCIA) as amended, 25 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.
The IHS invites potential applicants to request an application for
participation in the Loan Repayment Program.
DATES: Applications for the FY 1998 Loan Repayment Program will be
accepted and evaluated monthly beginning January 2, 1998 and will
continue each month thereafter until all funds are exhausted.
Subsequent monthly deadline dates are scheduled for Friday of the
second full week of each month. Notice of awards will be mailed on the
last working day of each month.
Applicants selected for participation in the FY 1998 program cycle
will be expected to begin their service period no later than September
30, 1998.
Applications shall be considered as meeting the deadline if they
are either:
1. Received on or before the deadline date; or
2. Sent on or before the deadline date. (Applicants should request
a legibly dated U.S. Postal Service postmark or obtain a legibly dated
receipt from a commercial carrier or U.S. Postal Service. Private
metered postmarks shall not be acceptable as proof of timely mailing.)
Applications received after the monthly closing date will be held
for consideration in the next monthly funding cycle. Applicants who do
not receive funding by September 30, 1998 will be notified in writing.
FORM TO BE USED FOR APPLICATION: Applications will be accepted only if
they are submitted on the form entitled ``Application for the Indian
Health Service Loan Repayment Program,'' identified with the Office of
Management and Budget approval number of OMB #0917-0014 (expires 11/30/
99).
ADDRESSES: Application materials may be obtained by calling or writing
to the address below. In addition, completed applications should be
returned to: IHS Loan Repayment Program, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway--Suite
100, Rockville, Maryland 20852, PH: 301/443-3396 [between 8:00 a.m. and
5:00 p.m. (EST) Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please address inquiries to Mr.
Charles Yepa, Chief, IHS Loan Repayment Program, Twinbrook Metro
Plaza--Suite 100, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Rockville, Maryland 20852,
PH: 301/443-3396 (between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (EST) Monday through
Friday, except Federal holidays).
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 108 of the INCIA as amended by
Public Laws 100-713 and 102-573, authorizes the IHS Loan Repayment
Program and provides in pertinent part as follows:
The Secretary, acting through the Service, shall establish a
program to be known as the Indian Health Service Loan Repayment
Program (hereinafter referred to as the ``Loan Repayment Program'')
in order to assure an adequate supply of trained health
professionals necessary to maintain
[[Page 46748]]
accreditation of, and provide health care services to Indians
through, Indian health programs.
Section 4(n) of the IHCIA, as amended by the Indian Health Care
Improvement Technical Corrections Act of 1996, Public Law 104-313,
provides that:
``Health Profession'' means allopathic medicine, family
medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, geriatric medicine,
obstetrics and gynecology, podiatric medicine, nursing, public
health nursing, dentistry, psychiatry, osteopathy, optometry,
pharmacy, psychology, public health, social work, marriage and
family therapy, chiropractic medicine, environmental health and
engineering, an allied health profession, or any other health
profession.
For the purposes of this program, the term ``Indian health
program'' is defined in section 108(a)(2)(A), as follows:
* * * any health program or facility funded, in whole or in part, by
the IHS for the benefit of American Indians and Alaska Natives and
administered:
a. Directly by the service; or
b. By any Indian tribe or tribal or Indian organization pursuant
to a contract under:
(1) The Indian Self-Determination Act; or
(2) Section 23 of the Act of April 30, 1908 (25 U.S.C. 47),
popularly known as the Buy Indian Act; or
(3) By an urban Indian organization pursuant to title V of this
Act.
Applicants may sign contractual agreements with the Secretary for 2
years. The IHS will repay all or a portion of the applicant's health
professions educational loans (undergraduate and graduate) for tuition
expenses and reasonable educational and living expenses in amounts up
to $30,000 per year for each year of contracted service to be made in
annual payments to the participant for the purpose of repaying his/her
outstanding health professions educational loans. Repayment of health
professional educations loans will be made to the participant within
120 days after the participant's entry on duty has been confirmed by
the IHS.
The Secretary must approve the contract before the disbursement of
loan repayments can be made to the participant. Participants will be
required to fulfill their contract service agreements through full-time
clinical practice at an Indian health program site determined by the
Secretary. Loan repayment sites are characterized by physical,
cultural, and professional isolation, and have histories of frequent
staff turnover. All Indian health program sites are annually
prioritized by discipline, based on need or vacancy by the Agency.
All health professionals will receive up to $30,000 per year,
regardless of their length of contract. Where payments under the Loan
Repayment Program result in an increase in Federal income tax liability
the IRS will pay up to 31 percent of the participant's total loan
repayments to the Internal Revenue Service on the participant's behalf
for all or part of the increased tax liability of the participant.
Pursuant to section 108(b), to be eligible to participate in the
Loan Repayment Program an individual must:
(1) A. be enrolled:
(i) In a course of study or program in an accredited institution,
as determined by the Secretary, within any State and be scheduled to
complete such course of study in the same year such individual applies
to participate in the Loan Repayment Program. (This includes the
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana
Islands, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Federated States
of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic
of Palau); or
(ii) In an approved graduate training program in a health
profession; or
B. Have a degree in a health profession and a license to practice;
and
(2) A. Be eligible for, or hold an appointment as a Commissioned
Officer in the Regular or Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service;
or
B. Be eligible for selection for civilian service in the Regular or
Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service; or
C. Meet the professional standards for civil service employment in
the IHS; or
D. Be employed in an Indian health program without service
obligation; and
(3) Submit to the Secretary an application and contract to the Loan
Repayment Program; and
(4) Sign and submit to the Secretary, a written contract agreeing
to accept repayment of educational loans and to serve for the
applicable period of obligated service in a priority site as determined
by the Secretary; and
(5) Sign an affidavit attesting to the fact that they have been
informed of the relative merits of the U.S. Public Health Service
Commissioned Corps and the Civil Service as employment options.
Upon approval of the applicant for participation in the Loan
Repayment Program, the applicant will receive confirmation of his/her
loan repayment award and the duty site at which he/she will serve his/
her loan repayment obligation.
The IHS has identified the positions in each Indian health program
for which there is a need or vacancy and ranked those positions in
order of priority by developing discipline specific prioritized lists
of sites. Ranking criteria for these sites include the following:
Historically critical shortages caused by frequent staff
turnover;
Current unmatched vacancies in a Health Profession
Discipline;
Projected vacancies in a Health Profession Discipline;
Ensuring that the staffing needs of Indian health programs
administered by an Indian tribe or tribal or health organization
receive consideration on an equal basis with programs that are
administered directly by the Service; and
Giving priority to vacancies in Indian health programs
that have a need for health professionals to provide health care
services as a result of individuals having breached Loan Repayment
Program contracts entered into under this section. Consistent with this
priority ranking, in determining which applications to approve and
which contracts to accept, the IHS will give priority to applications
made by American Indians and Alaska Natives and to individuals
recruited through the efforts of Indian tribes or tribal or Indian
organizations.
With respect to priorities among the various health
professions, the statute requires that of the total amount appropriated
for FY 1998 for loan repayment contracts, not less than 25 percent be
provided to applicants who are nurses, nurse practitioners, or nurse
midwives and not less than 10 percent be provided to applicants who are
mental health professionals (other than nurses, nurse practitioners, or
nurse midwives). This requirement does not apply if the number of
applications from these two groups, respectively, is not sufficient to
meet the requirement.
Subject to the above statutory priority for nurses and
mental health practitioners, the IHS will give priority in funding
among health professionals to physicians in the following priority
specialties: Anesthesiology, emergency room medicine, general surgery,
obstetrics/gynecology, ophthalmology, orthopedic surgery,
otolaryngology/otorhinolaryngol, psychiatry and radiology.
The following factors are equal in weight when applied, and are
applied when all other criteria are equal and a selection must be made
between applicants.
One or all of the following factors may be applicable to an
applicant, and the applicant who has the most of these factors, all
other criteria equal, would be selected.
An applicant's length of current employment in the IHS,
tribal or urban program.
[[Page 46749]]
Availability for service earlier than other applicants
(first come, first served); and
Date the individual's application was received.
Any individual who enters this program and satisfactorily completes
his or her obligated period of service may apply to extend the contract
on a year-by-year basis, as determined by the IHS, at the maximum
amount of up to $30,000 per year and additional 31 percent for Federal
Withholding. If funds are available, the maximum amount will be funded
in this manner and will not exceed the total of the individual's
outstanding eligible health professions educational loans.
Any individual who owes an obligation for health professional
service to the Federal Government or to a State or other entity under
an agreement with such State or other entity is not eligible for the
Loan Repayment Program unless such an obligation will be completely
satisfied prior to the beginning of service under this program in the
year that an application is made for this program.
This program is not subject to review under Executive Order 12372.
(The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance number is 93.164.)
Dated: August 11, 1997.
Michael H. Trujillo,
Assistant Surgeon General, Director.
[FR Doc. 97-23508 Filed 9-3-97; 8:45 am]
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