[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 220 (Tuesday, November 17, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 59191-59193]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-27523]


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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.

Proposed Project: Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block 
Grant Uniform Application Guidance and Instructions FY 2011-2013 and 
Regulations (OMB No. 0930-0080)--Revision

    Sections 1921 through 1935 of the Public Health Service Act (U.S.C. 
300x-21 to 300x-35) provide for annual allotments to assist States to 
plan, carry out and evaluate activities to prevent and treat substance 
abuse and for related activities. Under the provisions of the law, 
States may receive allotments only after an application is submitted 
and approved by the Secretary, DHHS. For the Federal fiscal years (FY) 
2011-FY 2013 Substance Abuse Prevention and Treatment (SAPT) Block 
Grant application cycles, SAMHSA will provide States with revised 
application guidance and instructions to implement changes made in 
accordance with recommendations from the National Association of State 
Alcohol and Drug Abuse Directors (NASADAD) and their member States in 
the revisions and clarification of data reporting requirements and 
instructions.
    During negotiations with the States resulting in agreement on the 
National Outcome Measures (NOMs) for substance abuse treatment and 
prevention, SAMHSA pledged to the States to:
    1. Reduce respondent burden;
    2. Work with the States to improve performance management of the 
SAPT Block Grant;
    3. Improve the availability, timeliness, and quality of data 
available to Federal, State, and provider administrators of block grant 
funded programs.
    This revision of the Uniform Application and Regulation for the 
SAPT Block Grant takes additional steps toward implementing these 
commitments. SAMHSA, in consultation with NASADAD, has provided States 
the ability to reduce their application burden by consolidating the FY 
2011-FY 2013 State Plan into a 3-year plan. With the exception of the 
projected annual budget form, States only would be expected to submit 
any proposed revisions to its approved three-year plan but would 
otherwise not have to resubmit a State Plan during FY 2012 and FY 2013. 
Individual States may reduce their respondent burden further by 
selecting the option of using SAMHSA pre-populated tables for Section 
IVa and IVb. The data for these tables would be drawn from SAMHSA data 
sets known as Drug and Alcohol Services Information System (DASIS) 
Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) and

[[Page 59192]]

National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) by SAMHSA and provided 
to the States. In addition, the Web-based Block Grant Application 
System now facilitates completion of the provider entity table through 
added pre-populated data items. The data for this table would be drawn 
from SAMHSA data set known as DASIS National Survey of Substance Abuse 
Treatment Services (N-SSATS). SAMHSA will continue to work with NASADAD 
and the States to assess the feasibility and usefulness of pre-
populating additional sections of the application with data extracted 
from SAMHSA data sets to further reduce respondent burden.
    SAMHSA continues to provide the States with the option of reporting 
on prevention expenditures utilizing the six primary prevention 
strategies or utilizing the Institute of Medicine classification of 
Universal, Selective or Indicated. SAMHSA has designed the State 
Prevention Framework State Incentive Grant (SPF SIG) competitive 
program and funded contracts in States without an SPF SIG to support 
data driven prevention planning by the Single State Agencies for 
Substance Abuse. States are expected to use the State level data 
collected with support from these programs in the planning in section 
II of the Uniform Application.
    The Uniform Application has been modified to move needs assessment, 
planning narrative and future year budget forms into Section II, the FY 
2011-FY 2013 Plan section.
    In December 2004, SAMHSA and the States agreed on the goal of 
having all States reporting the NOMs measures as defined at the meeting 
by the end of a 3-year implementation period starting in FY 2005 and 
concluding at the end of FY 2007. By January 2006, supportive technical 
assistance on information technology design and payment for data 
submitted became available by the State Outcomes Measurement and 
Management System (SOMMS) program. States who have participated in the 
SOMMS/NOMs subcontracts may choose to have their data pre-populated 
which would significantly reduce their reporting burden for this 
application. During the subsequent three years, SAMHSA in partnership 
with the States and all other SAPT Block Grant stakeholders have 
continued to work towards improving standards for analyzing and 
responding to the results of NOMs data appropriate to each level of 
block grant funded administration including Federal, State, and 
Provider roles and responsibilities.
    SAMHSA realigned resources to address the need for technical 
assistance in information technology (IT) and software purchasing to 
implement and maintain NOMs data standards. This technical assistance 
first became available in September 2006 and IT support continues.
    Revisions to the previously-approved Uniform Application resulting 
from such stakeholder input reflect the following changes: (1) Section 
I, Form 2, ``Table of Contents,'' was revised to appropriately 
enumerate the specific items within each section; (2) In Section II, 
the former single year ``Intended Use Plan'' is aggregated into a 
``Three Year State Plan'' to reduce the States' annual plan reporting 
burden. The first ``Three Year Plan'' will cover FYs 2011-2013. In the 
next two subsequent years, only revisions or updates to the 3-year plan 
will be required in the States' FY 2012 and FY 2013 Uniform 
Applications. Planned expenditures of each Federal Fiscal Year award 
will still be collected annually; (3) In Section II, the Form formerly 
specified as Form 12 has been removed; (4) In Section III, Narratives 
covering the Federal requirements, financial expenditure reports and 
services utilization reports are consolidated into the ``Annual Report 
Section''; (5) In Section IV subparts IVa and IVb, Treatment and 
Prevention Performance Reporting Forms are maintained and are to be 
completed annually.
    The total annual reporting burden estimate is shown below:

                                                     FY 2011
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Number of
                                                     Number of     Responses per     hours per      Total hours
                                                    respondents     respondent       response
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sections I-III--States and Territories..........              60               1           * 480          28,800
Section IV-A....................................              60               1              40           2,400
Section IV-B....................................              60               1           42.75           2,565
Recordkeeping...................................              60               1              16             960
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................              60  ..............  ..............          34,725
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* (additional 10 hours per completion of Section II per State due to addition of FYs 2012 and 2013 in ``Three
  Year Plan'').


                                               FY 2012 and FY 2013
                                      [Due to the reduction in section II]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Number of     Responses per   Number hours
                                                    respondents     respondent     per response     Total hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sections I-III--States and Territories..........              60               1             440          26,400
Section IVa.....................................              60               1              40           2,400
Section IVb.....................................              60               1           42.75           2,565
Recordkeeping...................................              60               1              16             960
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................              60  ..............  ..............          32,325
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* (reduction of approximately 40 hours per respondent due to reductions in response burden for Section II,
  ``Three Year Plan'').

    Average Annual Total Burden is projected to be 33,125 or a decrease 
of about 800 hours.
    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 7-1044, One Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20857 and e-mail a 
copy to [email protected].

[[Page 59193]]

Written comments should be received within 60 days of this notice.

    Dated: November 10, 2009.
Elaine Parry,
Director, Office of Program Services.
[FR Doc. E9-27523 Filed 11-16-09; 8:45 am]
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