2013-26401. Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; Public Comment Request

AGENCY:

Office of the Secretary, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the Secretary (OS), Department of Health and Human Services, announces plans to submit a new Information Collection Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Prior to submitting that ICR to OMB, OS seeks comments from the public regarding the burden estimate, below, or any other aspect of the ICR.

DATES:

Comments on the ICR must be received on or before January 6, 2014.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments to [e-mail] or by calling [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Information Collection Clearance staff, [e-mail] or [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

When submitting comments or requesting information, please include the document identifier HHS-OS-20790-60D for reference. Information Collection Request Title: Title X Family Planning Outreach and Enrollment Data Collection Form.

Abstract: The Office of Population Affairs within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health seeks to collect data from the Title X service delivery grantees on efforts related to outreach and enrollment to assist individuals in obtaining health insurance available as a result of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Grantees will be asked to collect and report information on the numbers of individuals who are; (1) Assisted by a trained health center worker; (2) number of individuals who receive an eligibility determination for the marketplace, Medicaid or CHIP with the assistance of a trained worker; and (3) number of individuals who enroll in an insurance program with the assistance of a trained worker. The information will be reported for all sites in their grantee network.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information:

The Title X Family Planning Program (“Title X program” or “program”) is the only Federal grant program dedicated solely to providing individuals with comprehensive family planning and related preventive health services (e.g., screening for breast and cervical cancer, sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and human immunodeficiency virus [HIV]). By law, priority is given to persons from low-income families (Section 1006[c] of Title X of the Public Health Service Act, 42 USC 300). The Office of Population Affairs (OPA) within the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health administers the Title X program.

In fiscal year 2013, Congress appropriated approximately $296.8 million for Title X family planning activities. In accordance with the statute and regulations (42 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] Part 59), at least 90% of the appropriation is used for clinical family planning services. In 2012, 98 Title X grantees provided family planning services to five million women and men through a network of 4,400 community-based clinics that include state and local health departments, tribal organizations, and other public and private nonprofit agencies. There is at least one clinic that receives Title X funds and provides services as required under the Title X statute in 73% of U.S. counties.

Sixty percent of the clients seen at Title X funded service sites self-identify as being uninsured. Seventy percent of the total clients are under the age 30. Thus Title X service sites see a large proportion of young and uninsured individuals. Over the past years, OPA has encouraged grantees to develop enrollment programs to ensure that clients who are currently uninsured understand new health insurance options that are available as a result of the ACA. Some sites already assist individuals with enrolling in Medicaid and other public insurance programs. With the availability of the health insurance marketplace, many more service delivery sites are assisting clients enroll in health insurance programs.

OPA does not have any data on how many sites are assisting and enrolling clients into health insurance programs. Thus we seek to collect this data in order to understand the impact of Title X funded service sites on assisting and enrolling clients into insurance programs. We will utilize this information to guide strategic planning around how Title X service sites and prepare for, and assist with, the full implementation of the ACA. Through a separate data collection process called the Family Planning Annual Report (FPAR) (OMB No. 0990-0221, expiration January 31, 2016), OPA collects information on the insurance status of the clients served. With the implementation of the ACA, many of the traditional clients served by Title X service sites will qualify for health insurance. Due to the varying resources available at the State level to conduct outreach and enrollment, OPA has authorized grantees to use funding to conduct outreach and enrollment activities. However, we are not currently collecting data on how many sites are conducting such activities, the impact of those activities in enrolling clients into health insurance programs, and the need for additional resources to conduct outreach and enrollment. By collecting information on how many clients are assisted and enrolled in health insurance programs, OPA can; (1) measure the impact of Title X service sites in enrolling clients into insurance programs; (2) design strategic initiatives to encourage outreach and enrollment; and (3) better understand the impact of the Affordable Care Act on Title X service delivery sites.

Likely Respondents: This annual reporting requirement is for family planning services delivery projects authorized and funded by the Title X Family Planning Program [“Population Research and Voluntary Family Planning Programs” (Pub. L. 91-572)], which was enacted in 1970 as Title X of the Public Health Service Act (Section 1001 of Title X of the Public Health Service Act, 42 United States Code [USC] 300).

Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide the information requested. This includes the time needed to review instructions, to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and providing information, to train personnel and to be able to respond to a collection of information, to search data sources, to complete and review the collection of information, and to transmit or otherwise disclose the information.

This data is currently being collected by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and the burden estimate is based on the supporting statement from their OMB application.

The total annual burden hours estimated for this ICR are summarized in the table below.

Total Estimated Annualized Burden—Hours

Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden hours
Outreach and Enrollment Activities	95	1	1	95

OS specifically requests comments on (1) the necessity and utility of the proposed information collection for the proper performance of the agency's functions, (2) the accuracy of the estimated burden, (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected, and (4) the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology to minimize the information collection burden.

Darius Taylor,

Deputy, Information Collection Clearance Officer.