[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 192 (Tuesday, October 6, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51280-51282]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-24021]


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

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

[[Page 51281]]

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.

Proposed Project: Center for Mental Health Service (CMHS) 
Transformation Accountability (TRAC) Reporting System--Revision

    SAMHSA's CMHS is requesting approval for a revision to the National 
Outcome Measures (NOMs) for Consumers Receiving Mental Health Services 
(OMB No. 0930-0285, Expiration Date: 4/30/2010). The name of this data 
collection effort is revised to the CMHS TRAC Reporting System 
(hereafter referred to as TRAC) to enable SAMHSA CMHS to consolidate 
its performance reporting activities within one package. This request 
includes a revision of the currently approved data collection effort 
directed at consumers of the Services (NOMs) programs; additional 
questions will enable CMHS to more fully explain grantee performance in 
relation to Agency and/or program objectives. This request also 
includes the addition of two new surveys to be completed by the Project 
Directors of grants that include infrastructure development and 
prevention activities. These new instruments will enable SAMHSA CMHS to 
capture a standardized set of performance indicators using a uniform 
reporting method.
    These proposed data activities are intended to promote the use of 
consistent measures among CMHS grantees and contractors funded through 
the Program of Regional and National Significance (PRNS) and Children's 
Mental Health Initiative (CMHI) budget lines. These common measures 
recommended by CMHS are a result of extensive examination and 
recommendations, using consistent criteria, by panels of staff, 
experts, and grantees. Wherever feasible, the proposed measures are 
consistent with or build upon previous data development efforts within 
CMHS. These data collection activities will be organized to reflect and 
support the domains specified for SAMHSA's NOMs for the Services 
programs, and the categories developed by CMHS to specify the 
Infrastructure Development and Prevention program activities. The use 
of consistent measurement for specified outcomes across CMHS-funded 
projects will improve the ability of SAMHSA and CMHS to respond to the 
Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) and the Office of 
Management and Budget Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART) 
evaluations.

TRAC Reporting--Consumer NOMs Data Collection

    The currently approved data collection effort for the SAMHSA CMHS 
programs that provide direct treatment to consumers includes separate 
data collection forms that are parallel in design for use in 
interviewing adults and children (or their caregivers for children 
under the age of 11 years old). These SAMHSA TRAC data will be 
collected at baseline, at six month reassessments for as long as the 
consumer remains in treatment, and at discharge. The proposed data 
collection encompasses eight of the ten SAMHSA NOMs domains.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                             Number of
                                             Number of      questions:
                 Domain                     questions:     caregiver and
                                               adult          child/
                                                            adolescent
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Access/Capacity.........................               4               4
Functioning.............................              28              26
Stability in Housing....................               1               2
Education and Employment................               4               3
Crime and Criminal Justice..............               1               1
Perception of Care......................              15              14
Social Connectedness....................               4               4
Retention \1\...........................               5               5
                                         -------------------------------
    Total Number........................              63              59
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Retention is defined as retention in the community. The indicator is
  based on use of psychiatric inpatient services, which is based on a
  measure from the Stability in Housing Domain.

    Changes to the current tools include the following:
     The administrative section of all tools was changed to 
allow grantees to capture and track when consumers refuse interviews, 
consent cannot be obtained from proxy, and consumers are impaired or 
unable to provide consent. The administrative section of the children's 
tools was additionally changed to capture whether the respondent is the 
child or his/her caregiver.
     Questions were added to all tools to capture general 
health, psychological functioning, life in the community, and substance 
use.
     CMHS reduced the data collection requirement for 3-month 
programs to be consistent with 6-month programs; all grant programs 
will be required to collect the NOMs interviews in 6 month intervals. 
CMHS will require the collection of Clinical Discharge interviews.
    In addition to questions asked of consumers as listed above, 
programs will be required to abstract information from consumer records 
regarding the services provided. The time to complete the revised 
instruments is estimated as shown below. These estimates are based on 
grantee reports of the amount of time required to complete the 
currently approved instruments accounting for the additional time 
required to complete the new questions, as based on an informal pilot.

TRAC Reporting--Infrastructure Development Data Collection

    CMHS has identified categories and associated grant- or community-
level indicators to assess performance of the Infrastructure 
Development grant programs to be reported by the grant Project 
Directors. The performance indicators are the focus of this proposed 
data collection. A web-based data entry system will be developed to 
capture this performance data for all CMHS-funded Infrastructure 
Development grants upon approval of the indicators. Not all categories 
or indicators will apply to every grant program; CMHS Program Directors 
will be responsible for determining whether a category (or an indicator 
within a category) applies to

[[Page 51282]]

each grant program, establishing targets at the grant level, and 
monitoring data submission. The following table summarizes the total 
number of indicators for each category that may or may not apply to 
each grant program:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Number of
                         Category                            indicators
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Policy Development........................................             2
Workforce Development.....................................             5
Financing.................................................             3
Organizational Change.....................................             1
Partnerships/Collaborations...............................             2
Accountability............................................             6
Types/Targets of Practices................................             4
                                                           -------------
    Total Number..........................................            23
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Grantee Project Directors will be responsible for submitting data 
quarterly. The use of standardized domains and data collection 
approaches will enhance aggregate data development and reporting.

TRAC Reporting--Prevention and Mental Health Promotion Data Collection

    CMHS has identified categories and associated grant- or community-
level indicators to assess performance of the Prevention grant 
programs. The performance indicators are the focus of this proposed 
data collection. A web-based data entry system will be developed to 
capture this performance data for all CMHS-funded Prevention and Mental 
Health Promotion grants upon approval of the indicators. Not all 
categories or indicators will apply to every grant program; CMHS 
Program Directors will be responsible for determining whether a 
category (or an indicator within a category) applies to each grant 
program, establishing targets at the grant level, and monitoring data 
submission. The following table summarizes the total number of 
indicators for each category that may or may not apply to each grant 
program:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              Number of
                         Category                            indicators
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Awareness.................................................             1
Training..................................................             1
Knowledge/Attitudes/Beliefs...............................             1
Screening.................................................             1
Outreach..................................................             2
Referral..................................................             1
Access....................................................             1
                                                           -------------
    Total Number..........................................             8
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Grantee Project Directors will be responsible for submitting data 
quarterly. The use of standardized domains and data collection 
approaches will enhance aggregate data development and reporting.
    Following is the estimated annual response burden for this effort.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                               Data
            Type of response                 Number of    collection per     Total     Hours per data     Hour
                                            respondents     respondent     responses     collection      burden
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOMs....................................  ..............  ..............  ...........  ..............  .........
Consumer Baseline Assessment............          15,681               1       15,681           0.333      5,222
Consumer 6-Month Reassessment...........          10,646               1       10,646           0.367      3,907
Consumer Discharge Interviews...........           4,508               1        4,508           0.367      1,655
Chart Abstraction.......................  ..............  ..............  ...........  ..............  .........
    Baseline............................           2,352               1        2,352             0.1        235
    Reassessment........................           9,017               1        9,017             0.1        902
        NOMs Subtotal...................          15,681  ..............       15,681  ..............     11,920
Infrastructure..........................  ..............  ..............  ...........  ..............  .........
Quarterly Record Abstraction............             652               4        2,608               4     10,432
Prevention and Mental Health Promotion..  ..............  ..............  ...........  ..............  .........
Quarterly Record Abstraction............             290               4        1,160               4      4,640
                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...............................          16,623  ..............  ...........  ..............     26,992
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 7-1044, 1 Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20850 and e-mail her a 
copy at [email protected]. Written comments should be received 
by December 7, 2009.

    Dated: September 28, 2009.
Elaine Parry,
Director, Office of Program Services.
[FR Doc. E9-24021 Filed 10-5-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P