2023-05485. Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Public Comment Request; Information Collection Request Title: Data Collection Tool for State Offices of Rural Health Grant Program

AGENCY:

Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department of Health and Human Services.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments submitted during the first public review of this ICR will be provided to OMB. OMB will accept further comments from the public during the review and approval period.

DATES:

Comments on this ICR should be received no later than April 17, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request a copy of the clearance requests submitted to OMB for review, email Samantha Miller, the HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, at [e-mail] or call [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

When submitting comments or requesting information, please include the ICR title for reference.

Information Collection Request Title: Data Collection Tool for State Offices of Rural Health Grant Program, OMB No. 0915-0322—Extension.

Abstract: HRSA is requesting OMB approval to continue use of a Technical Assistance (TA) Data Form for the State Offices of Rural Health (SORH) Grant program established by section 338J of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254r). In its authorizing language (sec. 711 of the Social Security Act [42 U.S.C. 912]), Congress charged HRSA's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) with administering grants, cooperative agreements, and contracts to provide TA and other activities as necessary to support activities related to improving health care in rural areas. The mission of FORHP is to sustain and improve access to quality health care services for rural communities. This electronic form is used collect information from SORH grantees on the amount of direct technical assistance they provide to clients within their state.

A 60-day notice published in the Federal Register on December 28, 2022, vol. 87, No. 248; pp. 79891-79892. There were no public comments.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information: FORHP seeks to continue gathering information from grantees on their efforts to provide TA to clients within their state. SORH grantees submit a TA Report that includes: (1) the total number of TA encounters provided directly by the grantee; and (2) the total number of unduplicated clients that received direct TA from the grantee. These measures will continue in these three categories: (1) information disseminated, (2) information created, and (3) collaborative efforts by topic area and type of audience. These measures are used to obtain an accurate depiction of the breadth of SORH work, based on recommendations from the grantees. Submission of the TA Report is submitted via the HRSA Electronic Handbook no later than 60 days after the end of each 12-month budget period.

Grant dollars are awarded annually; therefore, this information is needed annually by the program in order to measure effective use of grant dollars consistently among all the grantees.

Likely Respondents: 50 State Offices of Rural Health award recipients.

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

Total Estimated Annualized Burden Hours

Instrument name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Total responses	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden hours
Technical Assistance Report	50	1	50	13.5	675
Total	50		50		675

HRSA 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.

Maria G. Button,

Director, Executive Secretariat.