03-2348. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

Periodically, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) publishes abstracts of information collection requests under review by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of the clearance requests submitted to OMB for review, call the HRSA Reports Clearance Office on [phone].

The following request has been submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995:

Proposed Project: Voluntary Partner Surveys To Implement Executive Order 12862 in the Health Resources and Services Administration—(OMB 0915-0212)—Extension

In response to Executive Order 12862, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) is proposing to conduct voluntary customer surveys of its “partners” to assess strengths and weaknesses in program services. A generic approval is being requested from OMB to conduct the partner surveys. HRSA partners are typically State or local governments, health care facilities, health care consortia, health care providers, and researchers.

Partner surveys to be conducted by HRSA might include, for example, mail or telephone surveys of grantees to determine satisfaction with a technical assistance contractor, or in-class evaluation forms completed by providers who receive training from HRSA grantees, to measure satisfaction with the training experience. Results of these surveys will be used to plan and redirect resources and efforts as needed to improve service. Focus groups may also be used to gain partner input into the design of mail and telephone surveys. Focus groups, in-class evaluation forms, mail surveys, and telephone surveys are expected to be the preferred methodologies.

A generic approval will permit HRSA to conduct a limited number of partner surveys without a full-scale OMB review of each survey. If generic approval is granted, information on each individual partner survey will not be published in the Federal Register.

The estimated response burden is as follows:

Type of survey	Number of respondents	Responses per respondent	Hours per response	Total hour burden
In-class evaluations	40,000	1	.05	2,000
Mail/Telephone surveys	2,000	1	.25	3,000
Focus groups	50	1	1.5	75
Total	52,050			5,075

Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of this notice to: John Morrall, Human Resources and Housing Branch, Office of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503.

Dated: January 27, 2003.

Jane M. Harrison,

Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.