[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 10 (Friday, January 14, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2418-2419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-909]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

    In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 concerning opportunity for public comment on proposed 
collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration will publish periodic summaries of proposed 
projects. To request more information on the proposed projects or to 
obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the SAMHSA 
Reports Clearance Officer on (301) 443-7978.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.
    Proposed Project: Evaluation of the Effects of the Vermont Parity 
Act--New-- In support of its mission to support activities related to 
improving mental health and substance abuse treatment and prevention 
through demonstration projects, evaluations and service system 
assessments, SAMHSA is taking advantage of the implementation of the 
Vermont Parity Act on January 1, 1998. The Vermont Parity Act provides 
SAMHSA with an important opportunity to study the health insurance 
coverage impacts of the nation's most comprehensive parity law and to 
provide useful data to state and federal policy makers, employers, 
health care providers, advocates, and consumers.
    SAMHSA will conduct a telephone survey of private employers in 
Vermont to assess their responses to the state law. The employer survey 
will gather information on the effects of the Vermont parity lay on 
employer-sponsored health insurance coverage. As a study of the most 
comprehensive

[[Page 2419]]

state parity law in the nation, this survey will provide SAMHSA its 
first opportunity to understand: (1) Employer knowledge of and 
satisfaction with parity; (2) estimated effects of parity on employer 
health care costs; (3) effects of parity on employer health insurance 
purchasing decisions, such as decisions to self-insure, drop coverage, 
change insurance carriers, shift a higher share of costs to employees, 
or carve-out benefits and/or shift to managed care; (4) other changes 
brought about by parity, such as establishment of employee assistance 
plans or wellness programs; and (5) suggestions for improving the 
parity law in the future.
    Data will be collected between May and September 2000, a period 
when employers typically re-evaluate their health insurance coverage 
decisions for the upcoming fiscal year. Upon completion of the data 
collection, descriptive and multivariate analyses of employer responses 
to and satisfaction with parity will be conducted. Responses will be 
analyzed by employer characteristics such as firm size, location, and 
type of industry. SAMHSA will use the survey results and survey data to 
advise governmental bodies such as the National Advisory Mental Health 
Council (NAMHC), which was charged by the Senate Appropriations 
Committee in 1996 to provide periodic reports on parity coverage in 
mental health services ``as more data throughout the country become 
available''.
    The table below shows the total burden for this one-year study.

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                                                                                      Burden/
                Type of interview                    Number of      Responses/       response      Total burden
                                                    respondents     Respondent        (hrs.)           hours
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Eligible businesses (screened and interviewed)               600               1             .33             200
 \1\............................................
Ineligible businesses (screened only) \2\.......             188               1             .17              32
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................             788  ..............  ..............            232
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\1\ Eligible businesses consist of businesses offering insurance to their employees at the time of the survey
  and newly uninsured businesses that stopped offering insurance to their employees after January 1, 1998 when
  the parity law went into effect.
\2\ Ineligible businesses consist of businesses that have not offered insurance at any time since January 1,
  1998.

Send comments to Nancy Pearce, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, Room 
16-105, Parklawn Building, 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857. 
Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

    Dated: January 6, 2000.
Richard Kopanda,
Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 00-909 Filed 1-13-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P