[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 242 (Tuesday, December 17, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 76310-76311]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-29944]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Public Comment Request

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with Section 3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, the Health Resources and Services Administration 
(HRSA) has submitted an Information Collection Request (ICR) to the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. Comments 
submitted during the first public review of this ICR will be provided 
to OMB. OMB will accept further comments from the public during the 
review and approval period.

DATES: Comments on this ICR should be received within 30 days of this 
notice.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, including the Information Collection 
Request Title, to the desk officer for HRSA, either by email to [email protected] or by fax to 202-395-5806.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: To request a copy of the clearance 
requests submitted to OMB for review, email the HRSA Information 
Collection Clearance Officer at [email protected] or call (301) 443-
1984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Information Collection Request Title: Evaluation of the Frontier 
Community Health Care Network Coordination Grant

    OMB No. 0915-xxxx--NEW.
    Abstract: In fiscal year (FY) 2012, the Office of Rural Health 
Policy (ORHP) funded an evaluation of the Frontier Community Health 
Care Network Coordination (FCHCNC) grant. This 3-year grant program 
awarded to the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services 
focuses on a community-based, client-centered clinical service 
coordination and health promotion model. The program will be 
coordinated by a clinically-trained Care Transitions Coordinator (CTC) 
working with Community Health Workers (CHW) in 11 participating network 
communities. By developing intervention with clients, the CTC and CHWs 
will work to improve care transitions and client outcomes by reducing 
or eliminating avoidable hospitalizations and re-hospitalizations, 
emergency room (ER) visits, and nursing home placements.
    The program will be subject to a 3-year independent evaluation. As 
part of this 3-year evaluation, HRSA will be collecting qualitative and 
quantitative information. To support the qualitative analysis, HRSA 
will conduct site visits and telephonic key informant interviews with 
the critical access hospitals, tertiary hospitals, and the support 
staff coordinating the program. Data collection will focus on client/
family satisfaction, whether goals were achieved in working with 
clients, and the strengths and challenges associated with implementing 
the program. Additionally, HRSA will be collecting data quarterly from 
the grantee sites in order to gain a deeper understanding of the 
program's implementation. Finally, quantitative data will be gathered 
for studying the effectiveness of each intervention, specifically 
identifying differences between pre- and post-intervention health care 
utilization, hospital readmissions, and other client-specific outcomes. 
Where data are available, HRSA will assess cost effectiveness of the 
program.

Need and Proposed Use of the Information

    This evaluation will consist of reviewing the implementation and 
effectiveness of the FCHCNC grant for the 11 participating network 
communities. The evaluation will allow HRSA to determine the following 
objectives:

[[Page 76311]]

    1. Identify the strengths and challenges that grantees and key 
partners used to implement the FCHCNC grant;
    2. Assess the effectiveness of the grantees' implementation of the 
FCHCNC grant;
    3. Determine client satisfaction and whether clients are meeting 
intervention goals; and
    4. Assess health care utilization and cost savings associated with 
FCHCNC grant participation.
    The evaluation will collect data from key stakeholders, grantee 
sites, and clients using the following methods:
    1. In person and telephonic interviews;
    2. Grantee data collection forms; and
    3. Client satisfaction surveys.
    ORHP is seeking approval from OMB for the three methods of data 
collection. A brief description of the data collection activities for 
which OMB approval is being sought is included below:
    In Person and Telephonic Key Informant Interviews: Interviews will 
be conducted with hospital administrators, providers, the care 
transitions coordinator, community health workers, and clients 
participating in the program. The interview guides consist of open-
ended questions designed to gather information on successes and 
challenges associated with the program design and implementation. 
Additionally, the interviews seek to gather information about the CHW 
training, client enrollment, intervention design for participants, and 
satisfaction with the program.
    Grantee Data Collection: The data collected from each grantee site 
will provide details on program/client activity on a quarterly basis. 
The data will include the number of clients with whom the CHWs are 
involved, the intervention goals and objectives for each participant, 
resources used as part of the interventions, and the time it took for 
achievement of the goals. To provide insight on the effectiveness of 
the grantees' recruitment, grantee data collection will also provide 
information on CHWs' efforts to enroll clients and the successes and 
failures that they have with various recruitment methods.
    Client Satisfaction Survey: The data collected as part of the 
client satisfaction survey will include data on types of health 
services used during their intervention and overall satisfaction with 
the FCHCNC program.
    CMS Utilization and Cost Data: The data accessed for the FCHCNC 
program will include overall utilization of health services by clients 
enrolled in the program (including number of hospitalizations) and the 
cost of the associated care received by the clients enrolled in the 
program.
    Likely Respondents: Hospital Administrators, primary care 
providers, community health workers, the care transition coordinator, 
staff from the Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services, 
staff from Montana Health Education and Research Foundation, and CHW 
clients.
    Burden Statement: Burden in this context means the time expended by 
persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose or provide the 
information requested. This includes the time needed to review 
instructions; to develop, acquire, install and utilize technology and 
systems for the purpose of collecting, validating and verifying 
information, processing and maintaining information, and disclosing and 
providing information; to train personnel and to be able to respond to 
a collection of information; to search data sources; to complete and 
review the collection of information; and to transmit or otherwise 
disclose the information. The total annual burden hours estimated for 
this ICR are summarized in the table below.

                                    Total Estimated Annualized Burden--Hours
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                                                   Number of                     Average burden
           Form name               Number of     responses per       Total      per response (in   Total burden
                                  respondents     respondent       responses         hours)            hours
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Client satisfaction survey....              85               1              85               .16            13.6
Hospital Administrator                      22               1              22               .5             11.0
 Interview Protocol...........
Primary care Provider                       22               1              22               .5             11.0
 Interview Protocol...........
Community Health Worker                     11               1              11              1.0             11.0
 Interview Protocol...........
Care Transitions Coordinator                 1               1               1              1.0              1.0
 Interview Protocol...........
Grantee Interview Protocol....               2               1               2               .5              1.0
Client Interview/Focus Group                22               1              22               .5             11.0
 Protocol.....................
Grantee Data Collection Form..              11               4              44              4              176.0
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    Total.....................             176  ..............  ..............  ................           231.6
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    Dated: December 9, 2013.
Bahar Niakan,
Director, Division of Policy and Information Coordination.
[FR Doc. 2013-29944 Filed 12-16-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P