[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 129 (Monday, July 7, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 40271]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-16955]


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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: HRSA Grantee Telecommunications and Telehealth 
Inventory and Database--New

    The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) mission 
is to improve and expand access to quality health care for all. Through 
its grant program, HRSA provides funds to ensure the availability of 
quality health care to low income, uninsured, isolated, vulnerable and 
special needs populations.
    Within HRSA, the Office for the Advancement of Telehealth (OAT) 
increases access to quality health care services for the underserved by 
promoting the use of advanced telecommunications and information 
technologies by health care providers across America. HRSA is a leading 
national supporter and developer of telehealth, which is the use of 
electronic information and telecommunications technologies for a wide 
variety of health-related activities. These include long-distance 
clinical care, patient and professional education, and health 
administration.
    HRSA provides grant funding to over 8000 recipients to improve 
healthcare delivery in the United States. Those offices and programs 
increasingly depend on the emerging technologies and telecommunications 
systems to deliver healthcare, yet no data is available on grant 
recipients' access to or utilization of those technologies. The 
proposed inventory will serve as a model for collecting this type of 
information across a disparate group of projects nationally and if 
successful will be ultimately integrated into HRSA's overall data 
system.
    All grantees will be asked to address access to telehealth 
technologies at their respective institutions. Telehealth activities 
include the practice of telemedicine, delivery of distance education, 
health informatics, healthcare staff supervision from remote sites, and 
the provision of consumer health information using telecommunications 
technologies. Additionally, grantees will be asked to provide 
information on their network members or satellite site. For those 
grantees practicing telemedicine, the survey will include a section on 
diagnostic tools and clinical capabilities.
    The survey will be delivered via the world wide web; hard copy will 
be made available for those grantees with no Internet access. 
Substantive questions may be systematically included in the grantees' 
progress reporting.
    Estimated burden hours:

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                                                               Number of
                                                  Number of    responses      Total      Hours per      Total
                      Task                       respondents      per       Number of     response      burden
                                                               respondent   responses                   hours
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Inventory assessment tool--Grant support.......          100            1          100           .5           50
Inventory assessment tool--No grant support....        7,900            1        7,900          .17        1,343
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    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, Fax Number 202-395-6974.

    Dated: June 27, 2003.
Jane M. Harrison,
Director, Division of Policy Review and Coordination.
[FR Doc. 03-16955 Filed 7-3-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P