2022-28586. Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection: Public Comment Request; Information Collection Request Title: Health Center Patient Survey, OMB No. 0915-0368-Extension

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the requirement for opportunity for public comment on proposed data collection projects of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, HRSA announces plans to submit an Information Collection Request (ICR), described below, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Prior to submitting the ICR to OMB, HRSA seeks comments from the public regarding the burden estimate, below, or any other aspect of the ICR.

DATES:

Comments on this ICR should be received no later than March 6, 2023.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments to [e-mail] or mail the HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, Room 14N39, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

To request more information on the proposed project or to obtain a copy of the data collection plans and draft instruments, email [e-mail] or call Samantha Miller, the acting HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer at 301-594-4394.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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

Information Collection Request Title: Health Center Patient Survey.

OMB No.: 0915-0368—Extension.

Abstract: The Health Center Program, administered by HRSA, is authorized under section 330 of the Public Health Service Act. Health centers are community-based and patient-directed organizations that deliver affordable, accessible, quality, and cost-effective primary health care services to patients regardless of their ability to pay. Nearly 1,400 health centers operate over 14,000 service delivery sites that provide primary health care to more than 30 million people in every U.S. state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Pacific Basin. In the past, HRSA has conducted the Health Center Patient Survey (HCPS), which surveys patients of HRSA supported health centers. The HCPS collects information about sociodemographic characteristics, health conditions, health behaviors, access to and utilization of health care services, and satisfaction with health care received at HRSA supported health centers. The renewal of the HCPS will utilize the same modules from the 2022 HCPS (OMB #0915-0368). There is no change to the current survey instruments. Survey results come from in-person, one-on-one interviews with patients who are selected as representative of the Health Center Program patient population nationally.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The HCPS is unique because it focuses on comprehensive, nationally representative, individual level data from the perspective of health center patients. By investigating how well HRSA supported health centers meet health care needs of the medically underserved and how patients perceive their quality of care, the HCPS serves as an empirically based resource to inform HRSA policy, funding, and planning decisions.

Likely Respondents: Staff and patients at HRSA supported health centers.

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. Compared to the previous HCPS, the estimated burden hours for an individual respondent remains the same in this renewal. The total annual burden hours and number of survey respondents is anticipated to remain the same for the survey instruments in this renewal. 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
Awardee Recruitment	220	1	220	2.00	440.00
Site Recruitment and Training	700	1	700	3.15	2,205.00
Patient Screening	13,120	1	13,120	.17	2,230.40
Patient Screening: Short Blessed Scale 1	18	1	18	.05	0.90
Patient Survey	9,000	1	9,000	1.00	9,000.00
Total National Study	23,058		23,058		13,876.30
1  The Short Blessed Scale Form will be administered to respondents when a field interviewer believes that a person might be too cognitively impaired to participate in the survey. According to 2022 survey experience, only 3 eligible participants in the main survey were screened with this form.

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.