[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 226 (Wednesday, November 23, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72423-72424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-30214]


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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

[[Page 72424]]

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, email [email protected] or call the HRSA 
Reports Clearance Office on (301) 443-1129.
    The following request has been submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget for review under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995:

Proposed Project: National Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners (OMB 
No. 0915-xxxx)--[New]

    The number of nurse practitioners (NP) in the United States has 
been growing rapidly over the past decade, and continued growth is 
expected as the annual number of graduates from NP programs is at an 
all time high. Furthermore, over the past 20 years, financial and 
regulatory changes have impacted the growth in NPs. The expansion of 
health insurance under the ``Patient Protection and Affordable Care 
Act'' (Pub. L. 111-148) will have an impact on the demand for services. 
With increasing numbers, NPs are poised to play a critical role in the 
nation's efforts to expand access to health care services.
    Despite the increasing number and roles of NPs, unfortunately, 
there are currently only limited, inconsistent data available to policy 
makers and the health care community. Accordingly, it is difficult for 
these leaders to quantify or fully understand the role of NPs in the 
current (or future projected course of the) health care system. In 
fact, it is difficult to estimate with confidence the number of NPs 
practicing in the U.S. today.
    The primary purpose of the Bureau of Health Profession's National 
Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners data collection is to: (1) Improve 
estimates of NPs providing services; (2) describe the settings where 
NPs are working; (3) identify the positions/roles in which NPs are 
working; (4) describe the activities and services NPs are providing in 
the healthcare workforce; (5) determine the specialties in which NPs 
are working; (6) explore NPs' satisfaction with and perception of the 
extent to which they are working to their full scope of practice; and 
(7) assess variations in practice settings, positions, and practice 
patterns by demographic and educational characteristics.
    The statutory provision that authorizes this data collection is 
section 761(b) of the Public Health Service Act, ``National Center for 
Health Care Workforce Analysis,'' which is codified at 42 U.S.C. 
294n(b). The information obtained from this survey will ultimately lead 
to more accurate and complete national estimates of the current NP 
supply as well as assist in the development of more accurate NP supply 
and demand projections.
    The annual estimate of burden is as follows:

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                                                                        Number of      Responses per                       Hours per       Total burden
                             Instrument                                respondents       respondent    Total responses      response          hours
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National Sample Survey of Nurse Practitioners......................           14,300                1           14,300              .33            4,719
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    Total..........................................................           14,300  ...............           14,300  ...............            4,719
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    Written comments and recommendations concerning the proposed 
information collection should be sent within 30 days of this notice to 
the desk officer for HRSA, either by email to [email protected] or by fax to (202) 395-6974. Please direct all 
correspondence to the ``attention of the desk officer for HRSA.''

    Dated: November 17, 2011.
Reva Harris,
Acting Director, Division of Policy and Information Coordination.
[FR Doc. 2011-30214 Filed 11-22-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P