2010-30869. Agency Information Collection Request; 30-Day Public Comment Request

Agency: Office of the Secretary, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC), HHS.

In compliance with the requirement of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Office of the Secretary (OS), Department of Health and Human Services, is publishing the following summary of a proposed information collection request for public comment. Interested persons are invited to send comments regarding this burden estimate or any other aspect of this collection of information, including any of the following subjects: (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. To obtain copies of the supporting statement and any related forms for the proposed paperwork collections referenced above, e-mail your request, including your address, phone number, OMB number, and OS document identifier, to [e-mail], or call the Reports Clearance Office on [phone]. Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collections must be directed to the OS Paperwork Clearance Officer at the above e-mail address within 30-days.

Proposed Project: Evaluation of the IT Professionals in Health Care—OMB No. 0090-NEW—Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (ONC).

Abstract: Currently, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology's (ONC) Office of the Chief Scientist is soliciting comments on a series of data collection efforts for the evaluation of the IT Professionals in Health Care (“Workforce”) Program. The Workforce Program, created under Section 3016 of the Public Health Service Act (PHSA), as added by Title XIII in Division A of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, directed the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide “assistance to institutions of higher education (or consortia thereof) to establish or expand medical health informatics education programs, including certification, undergraduate, and masters degree programs, for both health care and information technology students to ensure the rapid and effective utilization and development of health information technologies.”

The evaluation of the Workforce Program is a new information collection activity which will explore program challenges, provide critical formative feedback to the Workforce grantee institutions on their activities, and determine whether the Workforce Program overall was successful in helping to build a skilled workforce equipped to meet the heightened demands of the current environment. The data collection efforts include: A Web-based baseline survey of community college students; course evaluation forms; focus groups with students, faculty members, and competency exam takers; and a Web-based survey of community college faculty.

Estimated Annualized Burden Table

Forms	Type of respondent	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Average burden hours per response (in hours)	Total burden hours
Web-based Student Baseline Survey	Students enrolled in Workforce program	1,233	1	20/60	411
Focus groups with students	Students enrolled in Workforce program	256	1	1.5	384
Focus groups with faculty	Instructors from Workforce program	50	1	1.5	75
Focus groups with Exam takers	Competency exam takers not enrolled in Workforce program	32	1	1.5	48
Web-based Faculty Survey	Instructors from Workforce program	300	1	10/60	50
Total					968

Seleda Perryman,

Office of the Secretary, Paperwork Reduction Act Reports Clearance Officer.