[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 144 (Friday, July 26, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48921-48922]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-19059]


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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: National Practitioner Data Bank for Adverse 
Information on Physicians and Other Health Care Practitioners: 
Regulations and Forms (OMB No. 0915-0126)--Revision

    The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) was established through 
Title IV of Pub. L. 99-660, the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 
1986, as amended. Final regulations governing the NPDB are codified at 
45 CFR part 60. Responsibility for NPDB

[[Page 48922]]

implementation and operation resides in the Bureau of Health 
Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. 
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). The NPDB began 
operation on September 1, 1990.
    The intent of Title IV of Pub. L. 99-660 is to improve the quality 
of health care by encouraging hospitals, State licensing boards, 
professional societies, and other entities providing health care 
services, to identify and discipline those who engage in unprofessional 
behavior; and to restrict the ability of incompetent physicians, 
dentists, and other health care practitioners to move from State to 
State without disclosure of practitioner previous damaging or 
incompetent performance.
    The NPDB acts primarily as a flagging system; its principal purpose 
is to facilitate comprehensive review of practitioners' professional 
credentials and background. Information on medical malpractice 
payments, adverse licensure actions, adverse clinical privileging 
actions, adverse professional society actions, and Medicare/Medicaid 
exclusions is collected from, and disseminated to, eligible entities. 
It is intended that NPDB information should be considered with other 
relevant information in evaluating a practitioner's credentials.
    This request is for a revision of reporting and querying forms 
previously approved on April 30, 1999. The reporting forms and the 
request for information forms (query forms) must be accessed, 
completed, and submitted to the NPDB electronically through the NPDB 
Web site at http://www.npdb-hipdb.com. All reporting and querying is 
performed through this secure website. Due to overlap in requirements 
for the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (HIPDB), some of 
the NPDB's burden has been subsumed under the HIPDB.
    Estimates of burden are as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Hours per
               Regulation citation                   Number of     Responses per  responses  (in   Total burden
                                                    respondents     respondent       minutes)          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
60.6(a), Errors & Omissions.....................             400           4.625              15           462.5
60.6(b), Revisions to Actions...................             100             1.5              30              75
60.7(b), Medical Malpractice Payment Report.....             660           28.03              45          13,875
60.8(b), Adverse Action Reports--State Boards...           \1\ 0               0               0               0
60.9(a)3, Adverse Action Clinical Privileges &             1,000             1.2              45             900
 Professional Society...........................
Requests for Hearings by Entities...............               1               1             480               8
60.10(a)(1), Queries by Hospital-Practitioner              6,000         240,000               5          20,000
 Applications...................................
60.10(a)(2), (Queries by Hospitals-Two Yr. Cycle           6,000         960,000               5          80,000
60.11(a)(1), Disclosure to Hospitals............           \2\ 0               0               0               0
60.11(a)(2), Disclosure to Practitioners (Self             \3\ 0               0               0               0
 Query).........................................
60.11(a)(3), Disclosure to Licensure Boards.....             125          15,000               5           1,250
60.11(a)(4), Queries by Non-Hospital Health Care           4,000       2,200,000               5         183,333
 Entities.......................................
60.11(a)(5), Queries by Plaintiffs' Attorneys...               5               5              30             2.5
60.11(a)(6), Queries by Non-Hospital Health Care           \4\ 0               0               0               0
 Entities-Peer Review...........................
60.11(a)(7), Requests by Researchers for                     100             100              30              50
 Aggregated Data................................
60.14(b), Practitioner Places a Report in                  1,000           1,000              15             250
 Disputed Status................................
60.14(b), Practitioner Statement................           2,325           2,325              60           2,325
60.14(b), Practitioner Requests for Secretarial              110             110             480             880
 Review.........................................
60.3, Entity Registration-Initial...............             500             500              60             500
60.3, Entity Registration-Update................           1,000           1,000               5              83
60.11(a), Authorized Agent Designation-Initial..             500             500              15             125
60.11(a), Authorized Agent-Update...............              50              50               5            4.17
60.12(c), Account Discrepancy Report............             300             300               5              75
60.12(c), Electronic Funds Transfer                          400             400              15             100
 Authorization..................................
60.3, Entity Reactivation.......................             100             100              60             100
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............        304,398
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Included in estimate for reporting adverse licensure actions to the HIPDB in 45 CFR part 61.
\2\ Included in estimates for 60.10(a)(1).
\3\ Included in estimate for self queries to the HIPDB in 45 CFR part 61.
\4\ Included in estimate for hospital queries under 60.11(a)(4).

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

    Dated: July 23, 2002.
Jane M. Harrison,
Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.
[FR Doc. 02-19059 Filed 7-25-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P