2013-13923. Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public Comment Request

AGENCY:

Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Health Resources and Services Administration (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 within 30 days of this notice.

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 the HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer at [e-mail] or call [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request Title: The Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) Program: Physician's Certification of Borrower's Total and Permanent Disability Form (OMB No. 0915-0204)—Extension

Abstract: The Health Education Assistance Loan (HEAL) program provided federally-insured loans to students in schools of allopathic medicine, osteopathic medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine, optometry, podiatric medicine, pharmacy, public health, allied health, or chiropractic, and graduate students in health administration or clinical psychology through September 30, 1998. Eligible lenders, such as banks, savings and loan associations, credit unions, pension funds, state agencies, HEAL schools, and insurance companies made new refinanced HEAL loans which are insured by the federal government against loss due to borrower's death, disability, bankruptcy, and default. The basic purpose of the program was to assure the availability of funds for loans to eligible students who needed to borrow money to pay for their educational loans. Currently, the program monitors the federal liability and assists in default prevention activities.

The HEAL borrower, the borrower's physician, and the holder of the loan completes the Physician's Certification form to certify that the HEAL borrower meets the total and permanent disability provisions. The Department of Health and Human Services uses this form to obtain detailed information about disability claims which includes the following: (1) The borrower's consent to release medical records to the Department of Health and Human Services and to the holder of the borrower's HEAL loans, (2) pertinent information supplied by the certifying physician, (3) the physician's certification that the borrower is unable to engage in any substantial gainful activity because of a medically determinable impairment that is expected to continue for a long and indefinite period of time or to result in death, and (4) information from the lender on the unpaid balance. Failure to submit the required documentation will result in disapproval of a disability claim. No changes have been made to the current form.

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

Type of respondent	Number of respondents	Number of responses per respondent	Total responses	Average burden per response (in hours)	Total burden hours
Borrower	30	1	30	.08	2
Physician	30	1	30	.5	15
Loan Holder	15	2	30	.17	5
Total	75		90		22

Dated: June 6, 2013.

Bahar Niakan,

Director, Division of Policy and Information Coordination.