[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 19 (Tuesday, January 29, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5200-5202]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-1484]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

    In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 concerning opportunity for public comment on proposed 
collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration (SAMHSA) will publish periodic summaries of 
proposed projects. To request more information on the proposed projects 
or to obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the 
SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and (d) ways 
to minimize the burden of the collection of information on respondents, 
including through the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.

Project: Community Mental Health Services Block Grant Application 
Guidance and Instruction, FY 2009-2011 (OMB No. 0930-0168)--Revision

    Sections 1911 through 1920 of the Public Health Services Act (42 
U.S.C. 300x through 300x-9) provide for annual allotments to assist 
States to establish or expand an organized, community-based system of 
care for adults with serious mental illnesses and children with serious 
emotional disturbances. Under these provisions of the law, States may 
receive allotments only after an application is submitted and approved 
by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
    For the FY 2009-2011 Community Mental Health Services Block Grant 
application cycle, SAMHSA will provide States guidance and instructions 
to guide development of comprehensive State applications/plans and 
implementation reports. In order to develop this guidance, SAMHSA 
convened a working group of State representatives to provide input and 
suggestions regarding the organization and content of the guidance. To 
the extent possible, these suggestions were incorporated into proposed 
revisions for the 2009-2011 application cycle. These proposed revisions 
to the guidance include:
    (1) Streamlining the process for reporting States' use of the block 
grant to support mental health transformation. Revisions to the FY2008 
guidance required a new request for information regarding funding for 
mental health transformation. A number of States indicated that their 
fiscal processes did not permit reporting in the manner requested. 
Other States suggested that the reporting burden was significantly 
increased while the information provided did not accurately reflect the 
range of transformation activities they were engaged in.
    This issue was the principal focus of the State working group, and 
the proposed FY2009-2011 guidance makes significant revisions based on 
the input of the group. The revisions include narrowing from 20 to six 
(6) the number of transformation categories for which States are asked 
to provide the amount of block grant funding used to support specific 
activities in FY2009. The new Table C which States are requested to 
complete follows:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Column 1                             Column 2
                                      --------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 If yes, please provide the actual or estimated
                                       Is MHBG funding used to     amount of MHBG funding that will be used to
                                        support this goal? If      support this transformation goal in FY2009.
                                          yes, please check.   -------------------------------------------------
                                                                         Actual                 Estimated
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
GOAL 1: Americans Understand that
 Mental Health Is Essential to
 Overall Health
GOAL 2: Mental Health Care is
 Consumer and Family Driven
GOAL 3: Disparities in Mental Health
 Services are Eliminated
GOAL 4: Early Mental Health
 Screening, Assessment, and Referral
 to Services are Common Practice
GOAL 5: Excellent Mental Health Care
 Is Delivered and Research Is
 Accelerated

[[Page 5201]]

 
GOAL 6: Technology Is Used to Access
 Mental Health Care and Information
                                      --------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total MHBG Funds.................  N/A
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition to revising the transformation data table, the guidance 
makes additional changes, including: (a) Eliminating the requirement 
that transformation activities be tracked within the context of the 
five (5) block grant statutory criteria; (b) consolidating requests for 
narrative regarding transformation activities into a single section; 
and (c) eliminating redundancy by allowing States to refer to other 
sections that include similar material. In collaboration with the State 
working group, SAMHSA identified and eliminated requests for data 
regarding transformation activities that are collected through other 
State funding sources.
    With these revisions, SAMHSA has simplified the reporting process 
for States while still ensuring that it receives data and information 
necessary to understand and monitor the role of the block grant in 
supporting State mental health transformation efforts.
    (2) Reorganizing and consolidating sections of the guidance to 
improve readability and clarity and to reduce redundancy. For example, 
instructions regarding the general format of the application now are 
found in one section of the guidance. In addition, specific provisions 
in sections requiring applications to track the five (5) statutory 
criteria and in sections regarding reporting performance indicators in 
the State Implementation Report were reorganized to improve the logical 
flow of the application. In addition, the guidance clarifies that 
States may refer to other sections of the application where 
appropriate, rather than repeating identical information in multiple 
sections of the application. All sections of the guidance were edited 
for clarity.
    (3) Eliminating Table 18 from the Uniform Reporting System (URS) 
tables that States must submit. The URS is a set of standardized tables 
designed to track individuals State performance over time and to 
aggregate State information to develop a national picture of State 
public mental health systems. Table 18 was intended to produce a 
profile of adults with schizophrenia receiving new generation 
medications during the year. A review of all URS tables determined that 
the data reported on table 18 is not comparable across States and has 
limited usefulness to CMHS or States in planning and improving mental 
health systems. In addition, Table 18 was reported to have the lowest 
amount of utility but the greatest reporting burden for States.
    (4) Eliminating the requirement that States complete a State-Level 
Reporting Capacity Checklist for submission to the State Data 
Infrastructure Coordinating Center.
    This MHBG Guidance has been developed based on current statute. The 
agency is aware that Congress is currently considering legislation to 
reauthorize SAMHSA. The reauthorization bill proposes substantive 
changes to the MHBG that would affect this Guidance. Upon passage of 
reauthorization legislation, the Center for Mental Health Services 
(CMHS) will contact States to provide additional guidance that may be 
needed to complete the MHBG application and Implementation Report. If 
significant changes to MHBG requirements, State plans, or data 
collection are included in the final reauthorization law, CMHS may 
revise and re-submit this guidance for public comment through the 
Federal Register.
    SAMHSA is requesting approval of this guidance for FY 2009, 2010, 
and 2011. The 2007-2011 SAMHSA Data Strategy has just been released to 
the public. Goal 2 of the Data Strategy specifically deals 
with performance data and includes specific milestones for the next few 
years, including the development of client level outcome measures for 
the states by 2011. CMHS may revise and re-submit this guidance to 
reflect the adoption of client level measures for future block grant 
applications if sufficient progress is made over the next 3 years.
    The following table summarizes the annual burden for the revised 
application.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of      Responses/        Burden       Total burden
                   Application                      respondents     respondent    response (hrs)       hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Plan:
  1 year........................................              44               1             180           7,920
  2 year........................................               6               1             150             900
  3 year........................................               9               1             110             900
Implementation Report...........................              59               1              75           4,425
URS Tables......................................              59               1              40           2,360
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................              59  ..............  ..............          16,595
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[[Page 5202]]

    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 7-1044, One Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20857 and e-mail her 
a copy at [email protected]. Written comments should be 
received within 60 days of this notice.

    Dated: January 22, 2008.
Elaine Parry,
Acting Director, Office of Program Services.
 [FR Doc. E8-1484 Filed 1-28-08; 8:45 am]
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