[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 188 (Monday, September 29, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50954-50955]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-25727]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission for OMB 
Review; Comment Request

    Periodically, the Health Resources and Services Administration 
(HRSA) publishes abstracts of information collection requests under 
review by the Office of Management and Budget, in compliance with the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a 
copy of the clearance requests submitted to OMB for review, call the 
HRSA Reports Clearance Office on (301)-443-1129.
    The following request has been submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget for review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995:

Proposed Project: Application and Annual Report, Maternal and Child 
Health Block Grant Program (OMB No. 0915-0172)--Extension and Revision

    The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has revised 
and reformatted the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant Guidance. 
This guidance is used annually by the 50 States and 9 jurisdictions in 
making application for Block Grants under Title V of the Social 
Security Act, and in preparing the required annual report. The 
revisions are designed to simplify and clarify the guidance and 
required forms and to reduce duplication, while still allowing for 
clear, concise, useful, and accurate communication about the States' 
programs. More specifically, the revisions are designed to: (1) Make 
the program descriptions more readable; (2) alleviate the disconnect 
between the application for the next fiscal year and the annual report 
for the previous fiscal year that makes programmatic and data reviews 
difficult; (3) clarify budget and expense tables, through better design 
of forms and by carrying totals from form to form; (4) report 
objectives in a standard format, including the relationship to Healthy 
People 2000 goals, to facilitate year-to-year comparisons and multi-
State tabulations; and, (5) incorporate uniform performance measures 
across all States and jurisdictions as well as State/jurisdiction-
specific performance measures.
    The HRSA revision also combines the current three guidance 
documents into one document by eliminating the separate annual 
application and annual report in favor of a combined document, and 
every fifth year explicitly including the results of the needs 
assessment, which would be incorporated only by reference in the 
intervening years. The HRSA revision efforts are intended not only to 
simplify and expedite the rational submission of necessary data and 
reports, but also to reduce the burden on States and jurisdictions by 
eliminating duplicative requirements and streamlining the presentation 
of information. Estimates of burden to complete the application and 
annual report are as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of     Responses per   Burden hours    Total burden 
                  Type of form                      respondents     respondent     per response        hours    
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Application and Annual Report, 1998-99 (without                                                                 
 needs assessment):*                                                                                            
    States......................................              50               1             500          25,000
    Jurisdictions...............................               9               1             200           1,800
Five-Year Application and Annual Report, 2000                                                                   
 (with needs assessment): *                                                                                     
    States......................................              50               1             750          37,500
    Jurisdictions...............................               9               1             400           3,600
Weighted Annual Average (over next three years):                                                                
    States......................................              50               1             555          29,167
    Jurisdictions...............................               9               1             267           2,400
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The Annual Application and Annual Report, without needs assessment, will be submitted in FY 1998 and FY 1999. 
  The five-year Annual Application and Annual Report will be submitted in FY 2000. The average annual response  
  burden for the next three years is 31,567 hours.                                                              


[[Page 50955]]

    Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of this notice to: 
Laura Oliven, Human Resources and Housing Branch, Office of Management 
and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, D.C. 
20503.

    Dated: September 22, 1997.
Jane Harrison,
Acting Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.
[FR Doc. 97-25727 Filed 9-26-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4160-15-P