Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.
Notice.
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, § 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).
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.
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.
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
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.
1. Health professions schools and programs will be ranked according to the percentage of URMs (
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
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.
The analysis would be as follows:
* 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.
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.