[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 55 (Tuesday, March 21, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15166-15167]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-6909]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


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

    Periodically, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services 
Administration (SAMHSA) will publish a list of information collection 
requests under OMB review, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act (44 U.S.C. Chapter 35). To request a copy of these documents, call 
the SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (301)443-7978.

Survey of Vermont Employers to Assess 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 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 June and October 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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                                                     Number of      Responses/        Hours/       Total burden
                Type of interview                   respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Businesses offering insurance(screener & full                600               1             .42             252
 interview) \1\.................................
Uninsured businesses (screener & short interview             222               1             .25              56
 only) \2\......................................
Ineligible/nonresponding businesses (screener                489               1             .08              39
 only) \3\......................................
                                                 ----------------                                ---------------
    Total.......................................           1,311  ..............  ..............            347
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Businesses currently offering insurance to employees or that stopped offering insurance to employees after
  January 1, 1998.
\2\ Businesses that either stopped offering insurance to employees before January 1, 1998 or never offered
  insurance to employees.
\3\ Businesses that are no longer in operation or are owned by the state or federal government and non-
  responding businesses that effuse to participate.

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


[[Page 15167]]


    Dated:March 12, 2000.
Richard Kopanda,
Executive Officer, SAMHSA.
[FR Doc. 00-6909 Filed 3-20-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P