42 U.S.C. § 300z–5 — Requirements for applications

(a) Form, content, and assurances — An application for a demonstration project grant under this subchapter must be in whatever form and contain whatever information the Secretary requires, and must include: (1) An identification of the incidence of adolescent pregnancy and related problems. (2) A description of the economic conditions and income levels in the area to be served. (3) A description of existing pregnancy prevention services and care programs (including adoption services) in the area, including where, how, by whom, and to whom they are provided, and how coordinated they are. (4) A description of major unmet needs for services and an estimate of how many adolescents are not being served in the area. (5)(A) For care-service applicants, a description of how all core services will be provided (through this grant or otherwise), who will get them, how they will be coordinated with other programs, and where their funding comes from; or (B) for prevention-service applicants, a description of the necessary services to be provided and how. (6) A description of how adolescents needing other services (such as Medicaid, licensed adoption agencies, maternity home services, public assistance, employment services, child care, or other State and local programs) will be identified and referred, including a plan to coordinate with those other services. (7) A description of the applicant's capacity to keep providing services as federal funds decrease or end. (8) A description of the results expected from the services and how they will be evaluated. (9) A summary of the views of public agencies, service providers, and the general public in the area about the proposed use of funds, how those views were gathered, and, for applicants coordinating with State-run services, the written comments of the relevant State officials. (10) An assurance the applicant will run an ongoing quality assurance program. (11) An assurance the applicant will, where appropriate, keep patient records confidential under the Secretary's regulations. (12) An assurance the applicant will demonstrate financial responsibility through proper accounting procedures. (13) An assurance the applicant either (A) has or will have a contractual or other arrangement with the State Medicaid agency to be paid for health services given to Medicaid-eligible people, or (B) has made or will make every reasonable effort to get such an arrangement. (14) An assurance the applicant has made and will keep making every reasonable effort to collect reimbursement for health services from Title V, Medicaid, or any other public assistance or private health insurance program. (15) An assurance the applicant has made and will keep making every reasonable effort to collect reimbursement from Title IV parts B and E (child welfare) and Title XX (social services) of the Social Security Act. (16)(A) A description of the fee schedule to be used — which must comply with section 300z–3(c) of this title and cover all reasonable direct and indirect costs — and a matching discount schedule adjusted based on the eligible person's ability to pay. (B) Assurances the applicant has made and will keep making every reasonable effort to collect fees under that schedule, to collect reimbursement from any government or private insurance program covering the person, and to seek that reimbursement at the full fee amount without applying the discount. (C) An assurance the applicant has submitted or will submit whatever reports the Secretary requires to check compliance with this paragraph. (17) An assurance the applicant will make maximum use of funds available under subchapter VIII of this chapter. (18) An assurance that accepting family planning services or information is voluntary and never a condition of getting any other service from the applicant. (19) An assurance that fees the applicant collects will be used to further this subchapter's purposes. (20) An assurance that an applicant providing both prevention and care services will not exclude or discriminate against an adolescent who received prevention services and later needs care services as a pregnant adolescent. (21) A description of how the applicant will, as appropriate, (A) involve families of adolescents to maximize the family's role in solving problems tied to the adolescent's pregnancy or parenthood, and (B) involve religious and charitable organizations, voluntary associations, and other private groups, as well as publicly sponsored services. (22)(A) Assurances that — except as (B) allows and subject to clause (ii) — the applicant will notify an unemancipated minor's parents or guardians when she requests services and will get their permission before providing them, and that for a pregnant unemancipated minor, the applicant will notify her parents or guardians within a reasonable time. (B) Assurances the applicant will not notify or seek permission from a minor's parents or guardians without the minor's consent, if (i) she is solely requesting pregnancy testing or venereal disease testing or treatment, (ii) she is the victim of incest involving a parent, or (iii) an adult sibling, aunt, uncle, or grandparent related to her by blood certifies that notifying her parents or guardians would cause her physical injury. (C) An assurance the applicant will not require parental or guardian permission for a pregnant unemancipated minor if those parents or guardians are trying to force her to have an abortion. (23) An assurance that primary emphasis for services under this subchapter will go to adolescents age 17 and under who cannot get needed help any other way. (24) An assurance that funds received under this subchapter will add to, not replace, funds from any other federal, State, or local program or private source. (25) A plan, and an assurance the applicant will carry it out, to evaluate how effective the funded services are, in accordance with subsection (b). (b) Evaluations: amount, conduct, and technical assistance (1) Each grantee must spend at least 1% but no more than 5% of the funds it receives on evaluating the services it provides. The Secretary may, for good cause shown, waive the spending-amount requirement for a particular grantee, but may not waive the requirement that evaluations be conducted at all. (2) These evaluations must be conducted by an organization independent of the grantee. To help with this, each grantee must build a working relationship with a college or university in its State to provide or help provide monitoring and evaluation, unless no college or university in the State is willing or able to help. (3) The Secretary may provide technical assistance with evaluations to a grantee unable to build that relationship for the reason described in paragraph (2). (c) Reports — Each grantee must report to the Secretary on its use of federal funds, as the Secretary requires, including — at times the Secretary considers appropriate — the results of its evaluations. (d) Notification of parents; "adult" defined (1) A grantee must periodically tell the Secretary exactly how many times it did not notify a pregnant unemancipated minor's parents or guardians under subsection (a)(22)(B)(iii). (2) For that provision, "adult" means an adult as defined by State law. (e) Submission of applications to Governor; comments by Governor — Each applicant must give a copy of its application to the Governor of the State where it is located. The Governor has 60 days from receiving that copy to send the applicant comments on the application, and the applicant must include the Governor's comments with the application. (f) Availability of core services — The Secretary may not approve any application for a care-services demonstration grant unless satisfied that core services will be available through the applicant within a reasonable time after the grant is received.