Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for Review and Approval; Public Comment Request; Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program, OMB No. 0915-0387-Extension

AGENCY:

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

ACTION:

Notice.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with of 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. OMB may act on HRSA's ICR only after the 30 day comment period for this notice has closed.

DATES:

Comments on this ICR should be received no later than July 14, 2021.

ADDRESSES:

Written comments and recommendations for the proposed information collection should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Find this particular information collection by selecting “Currently under Review—Open for Public Comments” or by using the search function.

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 paperwork@hrsa.gov or call (301) 443-1984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request Title: Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program, OMB No. 0915-0387 Extension.

Abstract: This program is authorized by Title III, Public Health Service Act, Section 330A(g) (42 U.S.C. 254c(g)), as amended; Public Law 115-245. This authority authorizes HRSA's Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP) to issue grants that expand access to, coordinate, contain the cost of, and improve the quality of essential health care services, including preventive and emergency services, through the development of health care networks in rural and frontier areas and regions. Across these various programs, the authority allows HRSA to provide funds to rural communities to support the direct delivery of health care and related services, expand existing services, or enhance health service delivery through education, promotion, and prevention programs.

The purpose of the Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Grant (Rural Quality) Program is to provide support to rural primary care providers for implementation of quality improvement activities. The goal of the program is to promote the development of an evidence-based culture and delivery of coordinated care in the primary care setting. Additional objectives of the program include improved health outcomes for patients, enhanced chronic disease management, and better engagement of patients and their caregivers. Organizations participating in the program are required to use an evidence-based quality improvement model, perform tests of change focused on improvement, and use health information technology (HIT) to collect and report data. HIT may include an electronic patient registry or an electronic health record, and is a critical component for improving quality and patient outcomes. With HIT it is possible to generate timely and meaningful data, which helps providers track and plan care.

A 60-day Notice published in the Federal Register on February 24, 2021, vol. 86, No. 35; pp. 11306. There were no public comments.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information: For this program, performance measures were drafted to provide data to the program and to enable HRSA to provide aggregate program data required by Congress under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993. These measures cover the principal topic areas of interest to FORHP, including: (a) Access to care; (b) population demographics; (c) staffing; (d) consortium/network; (e) sustainability; and (f) project specific domains. All measures will speak to FORHP's progress toward meeting the goals set.

FORHP collects this information to quantify the impact of grant funding on access to health care, quality of services, and improvement of health outcomes. FORHP uses the data for program improvement and grantees use the data for performance tracking. No changes are proposed from the current data collection effort.

Likely Respondents: The respondents would be recipients of the Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program.

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.

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.