[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 22, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50691-50692]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-20578]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES


Request for Information (RFI): Guidance on Data Streamlining and 
Reducing Undue Reporting Burden for HHS-Funded HIV Prevention, 
Treatment, and Care Services Grantees

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Department of Health and Human 
Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) seeks 
assistance from key stakeholders to identify and address grant-related 
data flow challenges and offer specific solutions for streamlining data 
collection and reducing undue burden among HHS grantees funded to 
provide HIV prevention, treatment, and care services.

DATES: To be assured consideration, comments must be received at one of 
the addresses provided below, no later than 5:00 p.m. EST on September 
21, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Electronic responses are strongly preferred and may be 
addressed to [email protected]. Written responses should be addressed 
to: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Room 443-H, 200 
Independence Ave. SW., Washington, DC 20201. Attention: HIV Data 
Streamlining.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Andrew D. Forsyth Ph.D. or Vera 
Yakovchenko, MPH, Office of HIV/AIDS and Infectious Disease Policy 
(OHAIDP), (202) 205-6606.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In July 2010, the White House released the 
National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States (NHAS) that outlined 
four key goals: (1) Reduce the number of people who become infected 
with HIV, (2) increase access to care and optimize health outcomes for 
people living with HIV, (3) reduce HIV-related health disparities, and 
(4) achieve a more coordinated national response to the HIV epidemic in 
the United States.\1\ Central to the latter goal were two related 
directives. The first was to develop improved mechanisms to monitor, 
evaluate, and report on progress toward achieving national goals. The 
second was to simplify grant administration activities by standardizing 
data collection and reducing undue grantee reporting requirements for 
federal HIV programs.
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    \1\ http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/onap/nhas.
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    To respond to these directives, on April 11, 2012, the Secretary of 
Health and Human Services issued a memo directing Operating Divisions 
and Staff Divisions to achieve three critical goals: (1) Finalize a set 
of common, core HIV/AIDS indicators in a manner consistent with the 
Institute of Medicine's recommendations; (2) develop operational plans 
to deploy core indicators, streamline data collection, and reduce 
reporting burden by at least 20-25 percent for HHS HIV/AIDS service 
grantees; and, (3) deploy operational plans within 15 months of 
reaching consensus on common indicators and their specification. This 
RFI is intended to elicit stakeholder input on strategies to streamline 
data collection and reduce undue reporting burden.
    The call for improved data streamlining and grants administration 
simplification described in the NHAS is consistent with other federal 
initiatives. In December 2009, the White House released its Open 
Government Directive,\2\ which seeks to improve access to government 
data in a manner that enhances transparency, fosters participation 
through the public's contribution of ideas and expertise to decision-
making, and enhances collaboration through new partnerships within the 
federal government and between public and private institutions. 
Notwithstanding existing clearance requirements or legitimate reasons 
to protect information, the Directive highlighted the need for the 
following: (1) Timely and accessible online publication of government 
information, (2) improved quality of government information, (3) 
Creation of a culture of open government, and (4) establishment of a 
policy framework for Open Government. The release of the Directive was 
followed shortly thereafter by the HHS Open Government Plan,\3\ which 
seeks to build upon the White House's emphasis on transparency, 
collaboration, and collaboration to ensure that the government works 
better for all Americans.
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    \2\ http://www.whitehouse.gov/open/documents/open-government-directive.
    \3\ http://www.hhs.gov/open/plan/opengovernmentplan/transparency/dashboard.html.
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    An important contribution of the HHS Open Government Plan is its 
reference to new technological developments that make it possible to 
streamline the collection, sharing, and processing of programmatic and 
fiscal data in a manner that facilitates greater transparency, 
participation, and collaboration, even in such critical and sensitive 
areas as the HHS investment in HIV prevention, treatment, and care 
services. At present, HHS Operating Divisions (OpDivs) that fund these 
services use a mixture of non-interoperable information processing 
systems to collect programmatic, fiscal, and other data from grantees. 
Moreover, these systems often utilize different indicators to monitor 
the progress of HIV/AIDS programs that vary in their specifications 
(e.g., numerators, denominators, time frames) and other key parameters. 
As a result, many required HIV/AIDS data elements are inconsistent, 
impede evaluation and monitoring across all relevant HHS-funded 
services, and add undue burden to HIV services grantees charged with 
reporting obligations often from multiple HHS OpDivs.
    This request for information seeks public comment on potential 
strategies to streamline data collection and reduce undue reporting 
burden for HIV prevention, treatment, and care services grantees,\4\ 
while preserving the capacity to monitor the provision of high quality 
services. Domains of interest include but are not limited to the 
following:
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    \4\ Excluded are surveillance and research grants.
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    1. Describe to the extent possible the administrative burden that 
HHS HIV prevention, treatment, and care services grantees experience. 
Please detail the number of data systems, indicators, elements, numbers 
of reports, or other quantifiable requirements needed to fulfill 
current federal HIV reporting obligations.
    2. Estimate the time, resources, and personnel costs required on a 
monthly basis to meet federal HIV grants administration requirements 
and fulfill

[[Page 50692]]

reporting obligations. Please rank these requirements in two ways: 
First, please indicate those that constitute the greatest burden and 
opportunity cost in terms of limiting the provision of high-quality HIV 
services. Second, please identify those that provide or have the 
potential to provide the most benefit for program planning, monitoring, 
evaluation, or deficiency remediation.
    3. Please describe specific recommendations for simplifying grants 
administration that could address the greatest sources of grantee 
burden and reduce any associated adverse effects on staff and service 
provision. What specific changes in federal, state, local, or tribal 
policies, improvements in public health infrastructure, or other 
modifications are needed to achieve an optimized balance between data 
streamlining, reporting burden and outcome monitoring? What specific 
policies and infrastructure are needed to standardize data requirements 
at the national, state, and local levels across federal programs 
supporting HIV/AIDS services?
    4. What specific solutions have grantees, sub-grantees, or 
contractors implemented to manage the administration requirements for 
data collection, monitoring, and reporting? For example, what tools and 
strategies have been developed to integrate federal data and reporting 
requirements, generate reports, monitor local programs, and identify 
the need for corrective action? What lessons do these hold for how HHS 
might streamline data collection and lessen administrative burdens for 
its HIV grantees? And how might the federal government improve the 
utility of program monitoring data to enhance the efficiency and 
effectiveness of program services implemented for state, local, and 
tribal governments?
    5. As part of its effort, HHS seeks to reduce by at least 20-25 
percent data elements collected for monitoring HIV services. What 
specific recommendations can you offer for eliminating indicators or 
data elements without affecting adversely HHS's capacity to monitor 
outcomes of its HIV grants programs? Please estimate the potential 
improvements these recommendations would yield in terms of personnel 
time, costs, or other resources saved.
    6. What extant HIV data reporting systems or approaches to data 
reporting are the most effective, efficient, and acceptable for 
grantees? What recommendations would you offer for facilitating both 
data reporting and data sharing between funders and grantees? What data 
from funders are the highest priorities for grantees to monitor 
performance, identify services gaps, or otherwise inform resource 
allocation and program implementation decisions?
    7. What approach is recommended for mapping and measuring 
achievement of reduced HIV reporting burden? Please recommend any 
relevant publications or reports that may prove illustrative.

    Dated: August 8, 2012.
Ronald O. Valdiserri,
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health, Infectious Diseases.
[FR Doc. 2012-20578 Filed 8-21-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4150-28-P