Department of Health and Human Services December 6, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Pursuant to section 10(a) of the Federal Advisory Committee Act as amended (5 U.S.C. Appendix 2) notice is hereby given that the President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities will hold its quarterly meeting by telephone conference call. The conference call will be open to the public to listen, with call-ins limited to the number of telephone lines available. Individuals who plan to call in and need special assistance, such as TTY, assistive listening devices, or materials in alternative format, should inform Ericka Alston, Executive Assistant, President's Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, Telephone202-619-0634, Fax202-205-9519, E-mail: ealston@acf.hhs.gov, no later than December 6, 2006. Efforts will be made to meet special requests received after that date, but availability of special needs accommodations to respond to these requests cannot be guaranteed. Agenda: Committee members will hear from Ms. Madeleine Will, Vice President of Public Policy and Director of the National Policy Center at the National Down Syndrome Society. Ms. Will will speak about her personal and professional perspective on the barriers facing people with intellectual disabilities throughout the lifespan, and how the Committee can work in conjunction with President Bush's New Freedom Initiative to tear down those barriers. The Committee will also hear from Mr. Mark Gross, designated representative of the Ex officio member from the U.S. Department of Justice, Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales. Mr. Gross will brief the Committee on the programs and services in the Justice Department for people with intellectual disabilities. The Committee will then hear reports from the various subcommittees regarding their current projects and goals.

The President's Health Center Initiative, which began in fiscal year (FY) 2002, was established to significantly impact 1,200 communities by creating new or expanded health center access points. Building on the successes of this Initiative, a second health center initiative has been proposed by the President for FY 2007 to continue to increase access to high quality comprehensive primary health care for the most vulnerable populations in the Nation. The goal of the President's new High Poverty Counties Health Center Initiative is to increase access to primary health care in 200 of the Nation's poorest counties that do not have a health center. This new Initiative is subject to the availability of funds in the FY 2007 Health Center Program appropriation. The President's High Poverty Counties Health Center Initiative contains two components, New Access Point and Planning grants to be funded under the Consolidated Health Center Program, as authorized by section 330 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b, as amended). New Access Point grants will be made for the provision of high quality comprehensive primary and preventive health care services through a new delivery site to a designated medically underserved area or population located in an eligible high poverty county. As part of the Initiative, it is anticipated that the New Access Points in High Poverty Counties grant opportunity will contain a funding priority. A funding priority is defined as the favorable adjustment of combined review scores of individually approved applications when applications meet specified criteria. The adjustment is typically made by a set, pre-determined number of points. For this grant opportunity, a funding priority is planned for applicants proposing to serve multiple counties (i.e., the proposed target population comes from other county(ies) in addition to the eligible high poverty county). Please note that this priority will not be given to applicants applying for the Planning opportunity of the High Poverty Counties grant opportunities as Planning grant applicants may not have a defined service area, and will not be providing health services through the grant funding. More detailed information about the funding priority will be included in the funding opportunity guidance.

This notice announces the intention of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to request that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) allow the proposed information collection project: ``Pilot Study of Proposed Medical Office Surveys on Patient Safety.'' In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, Public Law 104-13 (44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A)), AHRQ invites the public to comment on this proposed information collection.