2018-28036. Submission for OMB Review; Comment Request

AGENCY:

Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, DoD.

ACTION:

30-day information collection notice.

SUMMARY:

The Department of Defense has submitted to OMB for clearance the following proposal for collection of information under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act.

DATES:

Consideration will be given to all comments received by January 28, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

Comments and recommendations on the proposed information collection should be emailed to Ms. Cortney Higgins, DoD Desk Officer, at [e-mail]. Please identify the proposed information collection by DoD Desk Officer, Docket ID number, and title of the information collection.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Fred Licari, 571-372-0493, or [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title; Associated Form; and OMB Number: Assistance Reporting Tool; OMB Control Number 0720-0060.

Type of Request: Revision.

Number of Respondents: 174,385.

Responses per Respondent: 1.

Annual Responses: 174,385.

Average Burden per Response: 15 minutes.

Annual Burden Hours: 43,596.25.

Needs and Uses: The ART is a secure web-based system that captures feedback on and authorization related to TRICARE benefits. Users are comprised of Military Health System (MHS) customer service personnel, to include Beneficiary Counseling and Assistance Coordinators, Debt Collection Assistance Officers, personnel, family support, recruiting command, case managers, and others who serve in a customer service support role. The ART is also the primary means by which DHA-Great Lakes staff capture medical authorization determinations and claims assistance information for remotely located service members, line of duty care, and for care under the Transitional Care for Service-related Conditions benefit. ART data reflects the customer service mission within the MHS: It helps customer service staff users prioritize and manage their case workload; it allows users to track beneficiary inquiry workload and resolution, of which a major component is educating beneficiaries on their TRICARE benefits. Personal health information (PHI) and personally identifiable information (PII) entered into the system is received from individuals via a verbal or written exchange and is only collected to facilitate beneficiary case resolution. Authorized users may use the PII/PHI to obtain and verify TRICARE eligibility, treatment, payment, and other healthcare operations information for a specific individual. All data collected is voluntarily given by the individual. At any time during the case resolution process, individuals may object to the collection of PHI and PII via verbal or written notice. Individuals are informed that without PII/PHI the authorized user of the system may not be able to assist in case resolution, and that answers to questions/concerns would be generalities regarding the topic at hand.

Affected Public: Individuals or households, business or other for-profit.

Frequency: On occasion.

Respondent's Obligation: Voluntary.

OMB Desk Officer: Ms. Cortney Higgins.

You may also submit comments and recommendations, identified by Docket ID number and title, by the following method:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the instructions for submitting comments.

Instructions: All submissions received must include the agency name, Docket ID number, and title for this Federal Register document. The general policy for comments and other submissions from members of the public is to make these submissions available for public viewing on the internet at http://www.regulations.gov as they are received without change, including any personal identifiers or contact information.

DOD Clearance Officer: Mr. Frederick Licari.

Requests for copies of the information collection proposal should be sent to Mr. Licari at [e-mail].

Dated: December 20, 2018.

Shelly E. Finke,

Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.