05-20331. Proposed Collection: Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program; Request for Public Comment: 30-Day Notice

AGENCY:

Indian Health Service, HHS.

ACTION:

Request for Public Comment: 30-day Proposed Information Collection: Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, for opportunity 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 list below. This proposed information collection project was published in the August 3, 2005, Federal Register (70 FR 44662) 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 to OMB.

Proposed Collection: Title: 0917-0014, “Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program”. Type of Information Collection Request: Extention of a currently approved collection which expires December 31, 2005. Form Number: No reporting forms required. Need and Use of Information Collection: The IHS Loan Payment Program (LRP) identifies health professionals with pre-existing financial obligations for education expenses that meet program criteria and who are qualified and willing to serve at, often remote, IHS health care facilities. Under the program, eligible health professionals sign a contract under which the IHS agrees to repay part or all of their indebtedness for professional training education. In exchange, the health professionals agree to serve for a specified period of time in IHS health care facilities. Eligible health professionals that wish to apply must submit an application to participate in the program. The application requests personal, demographic and educational training information, including information on the educational loans of the individual for which repayment is being requested (i.e., date, amount, account number, purpose of each loan, interest rate, the current balance, etc). The data collected is needed and used to evaluate applicant eligibility; rank and prioritize applicants by specialty; assign applicants to IHS health care facilities; determine payment amounts and schedules for paying the lending institutions; and to provide data and statistics for program management review and analysis. Affected Public: Individual and households. Type of Respondents: Individuals. Table 1 below provides the following: Types of data collection instruments, estimated number of respondents, number of responses per respondent, annual number of responses, average burden hour per response, and total annual burden hour.

Table 1.—Estimated Burden Hours

Data collection instrument	Estimated number of respondents	Responses per respondent	Average burden hour per response*	Total annual burden hours
Section I	425	1	0.25 (15 min)	106.25
Section II	425	1	0.25 (30 min)	212.5
Section III	425	4	0.25 (15 min)	425
Contract	425	1	0.334 (20 min)	141.95
Affidavit	425	1	0.167 (10 min)	70.97
Lender's Certification	1,700	1	.025 (15 min	425
*For ease of understanding, burden hours are also provided in actual minutes.

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 IHS processes the information collected in a useful and timely fashion; (c) the accuracy of the 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 estimate 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: Mrs. Christina Rouleau, IHS Reports Clearance Officer, 801 Thompson Avenue, TMP Suite 450, Rockville, MD 20852-1601, or call non-toll free [phone] or send via facsimile to [phone], or send your E-mail requests, comments, and return address to: [e-mail].

Comment Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection are best assured of having their full effect if received on or before November 10, 2005.

Dated: September 4, 2005.

Robert G. McSwain,

Deputy Director, Indian Health Service.