03-31250. 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, 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 (301)-443-1129.

Proposed Project: Health Center Expansion and Recruitment Survey—New

HRSA's Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) currently funds a number of Rural Health Research Centers in the United States, allocating funding through cooperative agreements. Authorized by Section 301 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 241), ORHP conducts research and investigations to render assistance to appropriate public authorities in the areas of the health and well-being of rural populations in the United States. A major current initiative of HRSA is the expansion of Health Centers (HCs) receiving funding under section 330 of the PHS Act, which provides medical care to lower income Americans regardless of the ability to pay in rural and urban areas.

HCs are a key element of the nation's medical care safety net, and are scheduled to expand the scope of their operations in the near future. One of the issues affecting HC expansion is their ability to recruit adequate numbers of medical and administrative personnel to accomplish their mission, particularly in rural areas, where there have been persistent problems recruiting and retaining health care personnel. HRSA's Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) has funded a study in collaborative oversight with the Bureau of Primary Health Care (BPHC) and the Bureau of Health Professions (BHPr), to collect information from HCs on issues concerning the recruitment of various types of health professionals and administrative personnel.

This data collection effort is designed to assess the problems encountered by rural and remote HCs in their efforts to recruit needed personnel as well as the types of programs employed in recruitment efforts, and to compare these patterns with prevailing programs in urban HCs. This one-time survey will collect information on all HCs receiving section 330 grant funding in the United States. The survey includes 13 separate response items, and will collect information from HC administrators on health care professional staffing, recruitment trends and issues and needs among HCs throughout the nation. The data collected will improve HRSA's abilities in forecasting needs for personnel as HCs expand, planning recruitment programs and strategies, and implementing of local and national policy initiatives to meet the personnel demands of HCs so that access to health care is maximized.

The burden estimates are as follows:

Health center expansion and recruitment survey	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Total number of responses	Avg. burden/hours per response	Total burden hours
Survey instruments	845	1	845	.25	211

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: December 11, 2003.

Tina M. Cheatham,

Acting Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.