[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 175 (Tuesday, September 10, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57432-57433]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-22901]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

[[Page 57433]]

    The following request has been submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget for review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995:

Proposed Project: Private Health Insurance Coverage of 
Immunosuppressive Drugs Survey--NEW

    Public Law 106-310, section 2101(b) of Title XXI of the Children's 
Health Act of 2000, states that the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services shall provide for a study to determine the costs of 
immunosuppressive drugs provided to children pursuant to organ 
transplants and to determine the extent to which health plans and 
health insurance cover such costs.
    The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) has 
determined the extent of government insurance coverage for 
immunosuppressive drugs given to children pursuant to organ 
transplantation. However, HRSA still does not know the extent of 
private health insurance coverage for immunosuppressive drugs. Analysis 
of the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) database 
revealed that approximately 45% of pediatric organ transplant 
recipients list their primary insurer as being private health 
insurance--this category being the largest insurer of pediatric organ 
transplant recipients. Little is known about co-payments, limitation on 
drug usage, etc., in this category of patients.
    In order to fulfill the requirements of Section 2101(b), the 
Division of Transplantation in the Office of Special Programs, HRSA, 
contracted with the EMMES Corporation to study the costs of 
immunosuppressive drugs and to conduct a survey to send to 
approximately 600 families of post-transplant liver and kidney patients 
who list private health insurance as their primary provider at the time 
of transplantation. Data collected and analyzed will be reported to 
Congress. The report will contain information about the extent to which 
private health insurance covers the cost of immunosuppressive drugs 
given pursuant to organ transplants and provide recommendations from 
the Secretary of Health and Human Services about the findings. Once 
information has been collected and the report to Congress submitted, 
the information will be incorporated into private databases maintained 
by the EMMES
    Corporation which are closely protected and not available to the 
public. Analytical requests can be made on the data, but requests are 
subject to an advisory board and the release in any type of personally-
identifiable data or standard analytical file will not be available to 
the public. The Federal government will not have access to any of the 
personally-identifiable data. All these measures will assure patient 
privacy.

                                       Estimates of Annualized Hour Burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of     Responses per     Hours per      Total hour
                   Respondents                      respondents     respondents      response         burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guardians patients..............................             600               1             .75          450
Transplant Centers..............................             143               1            2.5           357.50
                                                 =================
    Total.......................................             743  ..............  ..............          807.50
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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: September 3, 2002.
Jane M. Harrison,
Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.
[FR Doc. 02-22901 Filed 9-9-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P