E8-19050. Request for Public Comment: 30-Day Proposed Information Collection: Behavioral Health Preventive Care Assessment Focus Group  

  • Start Preamble

    AGENCY:

    Indian Health Service, HHS.

    ACTION:

    Notice.

    SUMMARY:

    In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 which requires 30 days for public comment on proposed information collection projects, the Indian Health Service (IHS) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a request to review and approve the information collection listed below. This proposed information collection project was previously published in the Start Printed Page 48386 Federal Register (73 FR 23254) on April 29, 2008 and allowed 60 days for public comment. No public comment was received in response to the notice. The purpose of this notice is to allow 30 days for public comment to be submitted directly to OMB.

    Proposed Collection: Title: 0917-NEW, “Behavioral Health Preventative Care Assessment Focus Group.” Type of Information Collection Request: Three year approval for this new information collection, 0917-NEW, “Behavioral Health Preventive Care Assessment Focus Group Guide.” Form Number(s): None. Need and Use of Information Collection: The IHS goal is to raise the health status of the American Indian and Alaska Native people to the highest possible level by providing comprehensive health care and preventive health services. To support the IHS mission, IHS uses the Government Performance Act (GPRA) to assess quality of care among its Federal, urban, and Tribal health programs. The IHS has been largely successful in meeting GPRA targets for selected clinical performance measures at the national level. However, there is significant variability in performance among IHS and Tribal service units.

    Until this time, IHS has not undertaken any comprehensive studies to evaluate the reasons for that variability or the factors that contribute to high quality care at the local level. The IHS has three GPRA measures relating to behavioral health, a high priority for the Agency and one of the IHS Director's Initiatives. This study will focus on these three GPRA behavioral health measures: Depression Screening in adults age 18 and over, Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence screening in women ages 15-40 and Alcohol Screening (to prevent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome) in women ages 15-44.

    Tribal programs voluntarily report their GPRA results quarterly and annually for national reporting. GPRA data collected for these three behavioral health measures includes: The number of patients eligible for a screening (denominator), number of eligible patients who receive a screening (numerator), and the resulting screening rate (percentage). IHS has developed methodology to identify superior and poor performers on these measures in both Tribal and Federal sites using fiscal year 2005, 2006, and 2007 GPRA performance results.

    IHS will convene focus groups with employees at 17 of these programs (7 IHS and 10 Tribal) in order to identify the factors contributing to (and when appropriate, the barriers preventing) the provision of high quality behavioral health care at the local level. These focus groups will allow employees to provide detailed data regarding program practices, screening and documentation procedures, initiatives, resources, and other factors relating to the provision of behavioral health preventive care at their health program. A total of two to three focus groups, organized by occupational specialty, will be convened at each program.

    Using the Chronic Care Model and Institute of Medicine recommendations, IHS will analyze the information collected during these site visits, along with background information that is publicly available (e.g., information found on clinic Web pages) on other qualitative and quantitative features of individual programs, such as staffing and funding levels, community demographics, and organizational structure, to develop a behavioral health preventive care model relevant to the unique system of IHS delivery. Affected Public: Individuals. Type of Respondents: Tribal employees at Tribal health programs.

    The table below provides: Types of data collection instruments, Estimated number of respondents, Number of responses per respondent, Number of total annual responses, Average burden hour per response, and Total annual burden hour(s).

     Data Collection Number Responses Total Burden Annual

    Data collection instrument(s)Number of respondentsResponses per respondentTotal annual responseBurden hour per responseAnnual burden hours
    Administrators/Supervisor Focus Group Guide30130260
    Provider Focus Group Guide30130260
    Behavioral Health Provider Focus Group Guide15115230
    Data Entry Focus Group Guide15115230
    Total90180

    There are no Capital Costs, Operating Costs, and/or Maintenance Costs to report.

    Request for Comments: Your written comments and/or suggestions are invited on one or more of the following points: (a) Whether the information collection activity is necessary to carry out an agency function; (b) whether the agency processes the information collected in a useful and timely fashion; (c) the accuracy of public burden estimate (the estimated amount of time needed for individual respondents to provide the requested information); (d) whether the methodology and assumptions used to determine the estimates are logical; (e) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information being collected; and (f) ways to minimize the public burden through the use of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Direct Comments to OMB: Send your written comments and suggestions regarding the proposed information collection contained in this notice, especially regarding the estimated public burden and associated response time to: Office of Management and Budget, Office of Regulatory Affairs, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 20503, Attention: Desk Officer for IHS.

    To request more information on the proposed collection or to obtain a copy of the data collection instrument(s) and/or instruction(s) contact: Ms. Janet Ingersoll, Acting IHS Reports Clearance Officer, 12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 450, Rockville, MD 20852-1601; call non-toll-free (301) 443-1116; send via facsimile to (301) 443-2316; or send your e-mail requests, comments, and return address to: JanetIngersoll@ihs.gov.

    Comment Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection are best assured of having full effect if received within 30 days of the date of this publication.

    Start Signature

    Dated: August 11, 2008.

    Robert G. McSwain,

    Director, Indian Health Service.

    End Signature End Preamble

    [FR Doc. E8-19050 Filed 8-18-08; 8:45 am]

    BILLING CODE 4165-16-M