[Federal Register: April 25, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 80)]
[Notices]               
[Page 20534-20535]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25ap02-69]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

 
Recruitment of Sites for Assignment of Commissioned Officers

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), HHS.

ACTION: General notice.

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SUMMARY: The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) 
announces that applications will be accepted from organized primary 
health care sites that provide services to underserved populations in 
the neediest Health Professional Shortage Areas (HPSAs) throughout the 
Nation that are interested in receiving an assignment of one of forty 
(40) PHS commissioned officers. The National Health Service Corps 
(NHSC) will pay the salaries, moving expenses and benefits for 40 
commissioned officers who will be part of a mobile cadre of health care 
professionals. These commissioned officers will provide services to 
patients at their assigned practice sites and may be called upon to 
respond to regional and/or national health emergencies. The NHSC will 
assist the officers in acquiring, maintaining and enhancing emergency 
response skills. The initial assignments will be no longer than three 
years in duration. Thirty-six of these commissioned officers will be 
family practice physicians and four will be dentists.

Eligible Applicants

    To be eligible to receive the assignment of one of the forty 
commissioned officers, public and nonprofit private entities must: (1) 
meet the standard requirements to be approved as an NHSC site (see 
sections 333 and 333A of the Public Health Service Act) and (2) submit 
a completed Proposal for Use of a Commissioned Officer 2002 form.
    All entities that receive the assignment of NHSC personnel must 
enter into an agreement with the State agency that administers 
Medicaid, accept assignment of Medicare, see all patients regardless of 
their ability to pay and use and post a discounted fee plan. In 
addition, entities must understand that if they receive the assignment 
of one of these forty commissioned officers, that officer will be away 
from the practice site for up to 4 weeks per year for training and may 
be away from the site for an additional period of time to respond to a 
regional or national health emergency.

Evaluation and Selection Process

    For those entities which meet the standard requirements to be 
approved as an NHSC site, the NHSC will evaluate and score their 
Proposals for Use of a Commissioned Officer, looking at the health care 
needs of the HPSA to be served, the entity's proposed utilization of 
the commissioned officer to meet those needs, the entity's plan for 
evaluating that officer's progress toward meeting those needs, and the 
budget resources available to meet those needs.

[[Page 20535]]

The NHSC will determine which entities qualify for the assignment of 
one of the forty commissioned officers based on:
    (1) The Proposal's score;
    (2) The health care needs of the HPSA served as evidenced by the 
HPSA score (HPSAs are scored on a scale of 1 to 25 for primary care 
HPSAs and 1 to 26 for dental HPSAs using criteria such as ratio of 
available health providers to population, rate of poverty and access to 
primary health services taking into account the distance to such 
services. Higher HPSA scores correlate to greater need.); and
    (3) The need to equitably distribute the commissioned officers 
throughout the Nation.
    More than forty entities may be approved to qualify for the 
assignment of one of these commissioned officers. Therefore, it is 
possible that an entity deemed qualified may not receive a commissioned 
officer.

Application Requests, Dates and Address

    All interested entities will be required to submit a Proposal for 
Use of a Commissioned Officer 2002 form. Entities that are not on the 
NHSC Opportunities List (see http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nhsc/opportunities--
list) will also be required to submit a Recruitment and Retention 
Assistance Application to enable the NHSC to determine if they meet the 
standard requirements to be approved as an NHSC site. (Entities that 
are on the NHSC Opportunities List have already submitted Recruitment 
and Retention Applications and have been approved as NHSC sites.)
    Completed proposals/applications should be addressed to: National 
Health Service Corps, 4350 East-West Highway, 8th Floor, Bethesda, MD, 
20814. These proposals/applications must be postmarked on or before the 
deadline date of June 3, 2002. Proposals/applications postmarked after 
June 3, 2002, or sent to any address other than the one specified 
above, will be returned to the applicant and not be considered. 
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.

Additional Information

    Entities interested in receiving proposal/application materials may 
do so by calling the National Health Service Corps call center at 1-
800-221-9393. They may also get information and download the Proposal 
for Use of Commissioned Officer 2002 form and the Recruitment and 
Retention Assistance Application by visiting the NHSC Web site at: 
http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/nhsc/.

    Dated: April 19, 2002.
Elizabeth M. Duke,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 02-10226 Filed 4-24-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P