2018-07176. Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program, OMB #0915-0140-Revision

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with 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 May 9, 2018.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, including the ICR 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: NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program OMB No. 0915-0140—Revision.

Abstract: The NURSE Corps Loan Repayment Program (NURSE Corps LRP) assists in the recruitment and retention of professional Registered Nurses (RNs), including advanced practice RNs (i.e., nurse practitioners, certified registered nurse anesthetists, certified nurse-midwives, and clinical nurse specialists), dedicated to working at eligible health care facilities with a critical shortage of nurses (i.e., a Critical Shortage Facility) or working as nurse faculty in eligible, accredited schools of nursing, by decreasing the financial barriers associated with pursuing a nursing profession. The NURSE Corps LRP provides loan repayment assistance to these nurses to repay a portion of their qualifying educational loans in exchange for full-time service at a public or private nonprofit Critical Shortage Facility (CSF) or in an eligible, accredited school of nursing.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The need and purpose of this information collection is to obtain information for NURSE Corps LRP applicants and participants. HRSA uses this information to consider an applicant for a NURSE Corps LRP contract award and to monitor a participant's compliance with the service requirements. Individuals must submit an application in order to participate in the program. The application asks for personal, professional, educational, and financial information required to determine the applicant's eligibility to participate in the NURSE Corps LRP. The semi-annual employment verification form asks for personal and employment information to determine if a participant is in compliance with the service requirements.

This revision to the clearance package will incorporate two new forms: (1) The CSF Verification Form is used to verify transfers to CSFs not already recorded in the online portal; and (2) the NURSE Corps Nurse Faculty Employment Verification Form asks for personal and employment information to specifically determine if nurse faculty participants are eligible to transfer to another approved accredited school of nursing.

Likely Respondents: Professional RNs or advanced practice RNs who are interested in participating in the NURSE Corps LRP, and official representatives at their service sites.

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:

The estimates of reporting burden for Applicants are as follows:

Instrument	Number of respondents	Responses/ respondent	Total responses	Hours per response	Total burden hours
NURSE Corps LRP Application *	5,500	1	5,500	2.0	11,000
Authorization to Release Employment Information Form **	5,500	1	5,500	0.1	550
Total for Applicants	5,500		11,000		11,550
* The burden hours associated with this instrument account for both new and continuation applications. Additional (uploaded) supporting documentation is included as part of this instrument and reflected in the burden hours.
** The same respondents are completing these instruments.

The estimates of reporting burden for participants are as follows:

Instrument	Number of respondents	Responses/ respondent	Total responses	Hours per response	Total burden hours
Participant Semi-Annual Employment Verification Form	2,300	2	4,600	0.5	2,300
NURSE Corps CSF Verification Form	550	1	550	0.1	55
NURSE Corps Nurse Faculty Employment Verification Form	250	1	250	0.2	50
Total for Participants	3,100	4	5,400	.8	2,405
Total for Applicants and Participants	8,600		16,400		* 13,955
* The 13,955 figure is a combination of burden hours for applicants and participants. This revision adds two forms (the CSF Verification Form and NURSE Corps Nurse Faculty Employment Verification Form). Participants, not applicants, only use these forms. The 13,955 total burden hours represents the net decrease in applicant burden, and the net increase in participant burden.

Dated: April 3, 2018.

Lori Roche,

Acting Deputy Director, Division of the Executive Secretariat.