[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 161 (Tuesday, August 19, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48385-48386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-19050]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service


Request for Public Comment: 30-Day Proposed Information 
Collection: Behavioral Health Preventive Care Assessment Focus Group

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 which requires 30 days for public comment on 
proposed information collection projects, the Indian Health Service 
(IHS) has submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a 
request to review and approve the information collection listed below. 
This proposed information collection project was previously published 
in the

[[Page 48386]]

Federal Register (73 FR 23254) on April 29, 2008 and allowed 60 days 
for public comment. No public comment was received in response to the 
notice. The purpose of this notice is to allow 30 days for public 
comment to be submitted directly to OMB.
    Proposed Collection: Title: 0917-NEW, ``Behavioral Health 
Preventative Care Assessment Focus Group.'' Type of Information 
Collection Request: Three year approval for this new information 
collection, 0917-NEW, ``Behavioral Health Preventive Care Assessment 
Focus Group Guide.'' Form Number(s): None. Need and Use of Information 
Collection: The IHS goal is to raise the health status of the American 
Indian and Alaska Native people to the highest possible level by 
providing comprehensive health care and preventive health services. To 
support the IHS mission, IHS uses the Government Performance Act (GPRA) 
to assess quality of care among its Federal, urban, and Tribal health 
programs. The IHS has been largely successful in meeting GPRA targets 
for selected clinical performance measures at the national level. 
However, there is significant variability in performance among IHS and 
Tribal service units.
    Until this time, IHS has not undertaken any comprehensive studies 
to evaluate the reasons for that variability or the factors that 
contribute to high quality care at the local level. The IHS has three 
GPRA measures relating to behavioral health, a high priority for the 
Agency and one of the IHS Director's Initiatives. This study will focus 
on these three GPRA behavioral health measures: Depression Screening in 
adults age 18 and over, Domestic/Intimate Partner Violence screening in 
women ages 15-40 and Alcohol Screening (to prevent Fetal Alcohol 
Syndrome) in women ages 15-44.
    Tribal programs voluntarily report their GPRA results quarterly and 
annually for national reporting. GPRA data collected for these three 
behavioral health measures includes: The number of patients eligible 
for a screening (denominator), number of eligible patients who receive 
a screening (numerator), and the resulting screening rate (percentage). 
IHS has developed methodology to identify superior and poor performers 
on these measures in both Tribal and Federal sites using fiscal year 
2005, 2006, and 2007 GPRA performance results.
    IHS will convene focus groups with employees at 17 of these 
programs (7 IHS and 10 Tribal) in order to identify the factors 
contributing to (and when appropriate, the barriers preventing) the 
provision of high quality behavioral health care at the local level. 
These focus groups will allow employees to provide detailed data 
regarding program practices, screening and documentation procedures, 
initiatives, resources, and other factors relating to the provision of 
behavioral health preventive care at their health program. A total of 
two to three focus groups, organized by occupational specialty, will be 
convened at each program.
    Using the Chronic Care Model and Institute of Medicine 
recommendations, IHS will analyze the information collected during 
these site visits, along with background information that is publicly 
available (e.g., information found on clinic Web pages) on other 
qualitative and quantitative features of individual programs, such as 
staffing and funding levels, community demographics, and organizational 
structure, to develop a behavioral health preventive care model 
relevant to the unique system of IHS delivery. Affected Public: 
Individuals. Type of Respondents: Tribal employees at Tribal health 
programs.
    The table below provides: Types of data collection instruments, 
Estimated number of respondents, Number of responses per respondent, 
Number of total annual responses, Average burden hour per response, and 
Total annual burden hour(s).

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                                     Number of     Responses per   Total annual     Burden hour    Annual burden
  Data collection instrument(s)     respondents     respondent       response      per response        hours
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Administrators/Supervisor Focus               30               1              30               2              60
 Group Guide....................
Provider Focus Group Guide......              30               1              30               2              60
Behavioral Health Provider Focus              15               1              15               2              30
 Group Guide....................
Data Entry Focus Group Guide....              15               1              15               2              30
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    Total.......................              90  ..............  ..............  ..............             180
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    There are no Capital Costs, Operating Costs, and/or Maintenance 
Costs to report.
    Request for Comments: Your written comments and/or suggestions are 
invited on one or more of the following points: (a) Whether the 
information collection activity is necessary to carry out an agency 
function; (b) whether the agency processes the information collected in 
a useful and timely fashion; (c) the accuracy of public burden estimate 
(the estimated amount of time needed for individual respondents to 
provide the requested information); (d) whether the methodology and 
assumptions used to determine the estimates are logical; (e) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of the information being 
collected; and (f) ways to minimize the public burden through the use 
of automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    Direct Comments to OMB: Send your written comments and suggestions 
regarding the proposed information collection contained in this notice, 
especially regarding the estimated public burden and associated 
response time to: Office of Management and Budget, Office of Regulatory 
Affairs, New Executive Office Building, Room 10235, Washington, DC 
20503, Attention: Desk Officer for IHS.
    To request more information on the proposed collection or to obtain 
a copy of the data collection instrument(s) and/or instruction(s) 
contact: Ms. Janet Ingersoll, Acting IHS Reports Clearance Officer, 
12300 Twinbrook Parkway, Suite 450, Rockville, MD 20852-1601; call non-
toll-free (301) 443-1116; send via facsimile to (301) 443-2316; or send 
your e-mail requests, comments, and return address to: 
[email protected].
    Comment Due Date: Comments regarding this information collection 
are best assured of having full effect if received within 30 days of 
the date of this publication.

    Dated: August 11, 2008.
Robert G. McSwain,
Director, Indian Health Service.
[FR Doc. E8-19050 Filed 8-18-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-16-M