2018-04482. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Program Deeming Application for Health Centers, OMB No. 0906-XXXX-NEW

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 has 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 5, 2018.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, including the Information Collection Request Title, to the desk officer for HRSA, either by email to [e-mail] or by fax to 202-395-5806.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request Title: Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Program Deeming Application for Health Centers, OMB No. 0906-XXXX— NEW.

Abstract: Section 224(g)-(n) of the Public Health Service (PHS) Act (42 U.S.C. 233(g)-(n)), as amended, authorizes the “deeming” of entities receiving funds under section 330 of the PHS Act as PHS employees for the purposes of receiving Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) coverage. The Health Center Program is administered by HRSA. Health centers submit deeming applications to HRSA in the prescribed form and manner in order to obtain deemed PHS employee status, with the associated FTCA coverage.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information: Deeming applications must address certain specified criteria required by law in order for deeming determinations to be issued, and FTCA application forms are critical to HRSA's deeming determination process. These forms provide HRSA with the information essential for application evaluation and a deeming determination for the purposes of FTCA coverage. The application information is also used to determine whether a site visit is appropriate to assess issues relating to the health center's quality of care and to determine technical assistance needs.

Likely Respondents: Respondents include Health Center Program funds recipients seeking deemed PHS employee status for purposes of FTCA coverage.

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

Form name	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Total responses	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden hours
FTCA Health Center Program Initial Application	35	1	35	2.5	87.5
FTCA Health Center Program Redeeming Application	1125	1	1125	2.5	2812.5
Total	1160		1160		2900

Amy McNulty,

Acting Director, Division of the Executive Secretariat.