[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26135-26136]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-8796]


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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 (OMB), 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 26136]]

    The following request has been submitted to OMB 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)--Extension

    The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) was established through 
Title IV of Public Law (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 
implementation and operation resides in the Bureau of Health 
Professions, Health Resources and Services Administration, Department 
of Health and Human Services. 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 the practitioner's 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.
    The reporting forms and the request for information forms (query 
forms) are accessed, completed, and submitted to the NPDB 
electronically through the NPDB Web site at http://www.npdb-hipdb.hrsa.gov. All reporting and querying is performed through this 
secure Web site. 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 annualized burden are as follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Hours per
               Regulation citation                    No. of       Frequency of      response      Total burden
                                                    respondents      responses       (minutes)         hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
60.6(a) Errors & Omissions......................             315               4              15             315
60.6(b) Revisions to Actions....................             109               1              30            54.5
60.7(b) Medical Malpractice Payment Reports.....             519              29              45       11,288.25
60.8(b) Adverse Action Reports--State Boards....               0               0               0
60.9(a)3 Adverse Action Reports--Clinical                    480               2              45             720
 Privileges & Professional Society..............
Requests for Hearings by Entities...............               0               0             480               0
60.10(a)(1) Queries by Hospital--Practitioner                  0               0               0               0
 Applications...................................
60.10(a)(2) Queries by Hospitals--2 Year Cycle..           5,996             213               5         106,429
60.11(a)(1) Disclosure to Hospitals.............               0               0               0               0
60.11(a)(2) Disclosure to Practitioners (Self-                 0               0               0               0
 Query).........................................
60.11(a)(3) Disclosure to Licensure Boards......              87             645               5        4,676.25
60.11(a)(4) Queries by Non-Hospital Health Care            7,305             322               5       196,017.5
 Entities.......................................
60.11(a)(5) Queries by Plaintiffs' Attorneys....               5               1              30             2.5
60.11(a)(6) Queries by Non-Hospital Health Care                0               0               0               0
 Entities-Peer Review...........................
60.11(a)(7) Requests by Researchers for                       20               1              30              10
 Aggregate Data.................................
60.14(b) Practitioner Places a Report in                     404               1              15             101
 Disputed Status................................
60.14(b) Practitioner Statement.................           1,415               1              45        1,061.25
60.14(b) Practitioner Requests for Secretarial                27               1             480             216
 Review.........................................
60.3 Entity Registration--Initial...............           1,447               1              60           1,447
60.3 Entity Registration--Update................          13,115               1               5        1,092.92
60.11(a) Authorized Agent Designation--Initial..             717               1              15          179.25
60.11(a) Authorized Agent--Update...............             139               1               5           11.58
60.12(c) Account Discrepancy Report.............               5               1              15            1.25
60.12(c) Electronic Funds Transfer Authorization             284               1              15              71
60.3 Entity Reactivation........................               0               1
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total Burden Hours..........................  ..............  ..............  ..............     323,694.25
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Numbers in the table may not add up exactly due to rounding.

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

    Dated: May 2, 2007.
Caroline Lewis,
Associate Administrator for Management.
 [FR Doc. E7-8796 Filed 5-7-07; 8:45 am]
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