[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 65 (Friday, April 4, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18920-18921]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-07491]


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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 no later than May 5, 
2014.

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: Client-Level Data Reporting 
System, OMB No. 0915-0323--Revision.
    Abstract: The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program's client-level data 
reporting system, entitled the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Services 
Report or the Ryan White Services Report (RSR), was created in 2009 by 
the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). It is designed 
to collect information from grantees as well as their subcontracted 
service providers, funded under Parts A, B, C, D, and F Minority AIDS 
Initiative of Title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act, as amended 
by the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 (Ryan White 
HIV/AIDS Program). The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program provides entities 
funded by the program with flexibility to respond effectively to the 
changing HIV epidemic, with an emphasis on providing life-saving and 
life-extending services for people living with HIV across this country, 
as well as targeting resources to areas that have the greatest needs.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: All parts of the Ryan 
White HIV/AIDS Program specify HRSA's responsibilities in administering 
grant funds, allocating funds, evaluating programs for the populations 
served, and improving quality of care. Accurate records of the 
providers receiving Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program funding, the clients 
served, and services provided continue to be critical issues for the 
implementation of the legislation and are necessary for HRSA to fulfill 
its responsibilities.
    The RSR provides data on the characteristics of Ryan White HIV/AIDS 
Program-funded grantees, their contracted service providers, and the 
clients served with program funds. The RSR is intended to support 
clinical quality management, performance measurement, service delivery, 
and client monitoring at the systems and client levels. The reporting 
systems consist of two online data forms, the Grantee Report and the 
Service Provider Report, as well as a data file containing the client-
level data elements. Data are submitted annually.
    The statute specifies the importance of grantee accountability and 
linking performance to budget. The RSR is used to ensure compliance 
with the requirements of the statute, to evaluate the progress of 
programs, to monitor grantee and provider performance, and to meet 
reporting responsibilities to the Department, Congress, and OMB.
    In addition to meeting the goal of accountability to Congress, 
clients, advocacy groups, and the general public, information collected 
through the RSR is critical for HRSA, state and local grantees, and 
individual providers to assess the status of existing HIV related 
service delivery systems, investigate trends in service utilization, 
and identify areas of greatest need.
    On April 11, 2012, a memo from the Secretary of the Department of 
Health and Human Services (HHS) directed HRSA, along with other Health 
and Human Services Operating Divisions (OpDivs) to work together to: 
(1) Identify seven common core HIV/AIDS indicators; (2) develop 
implementation plans to deploy these indicators; and (3) streamline 
data collection; and reduce reporting by at least 20 to 25 percent. In 
November 2012, the HIV/AIDS Indicators Implementation Group (HAIIG) 
comprised of representatives from HHS OpDivs, the Department of Housing 
and Urban Development, the Veterans' Health Administration, and 
community partners successfully identified the required common core 
HIV/AIDS indicators.
    Revisions to the RSR are required to support implementation of the 
core indicators, streamline data collection, and reduce reporting 
burden. Nine data elements will be deleted from the RSR and 22 
variables will be modified to reduce reporting burden. Two new data 
elements will be added to the RSR: (1) Date of client's confidential 
confirmatory HIV test with a positive result in the reporting period; 
and (2) date of client's first outpatient ambulatory medical care visit 
after positive HIV test. These data elements are required to deploy the 
Linkage to HIV Medical Care core indicator. Another data element, Sex 
at Birth, defined to the biological sex assigned to the client at 
birth, will be added to align with variables collected by other HHS 
OpDivs.

[[Page 18921]]

    In addition to the new data elements noted above, other new 
variables will be added to the RSR to address provisions set forth in 
Section 4302 of the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act 
includes several provisions aimed at eliminating health disparities in 
America. Section 4302 (Understanding health disparities: Data 
Collection and Analysis) of the Affordable Care Act focuses on the 
standardization, collection, analysis, and reporting of health 
disparities data. Section 4302 requires the Secretary of HHS to 
establish data collection standards for race, ethnicity, and sex. The 
race/ethnicity data elements include reporting of Hispanic, Asian, and 
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander subgroups. The categories for HHS data 
standards for race and ethnicity are based on the disaggregation of the 
OMB standard used in the American Community Survey (ACS) and the 2000 
and 2010 Decennial Census. The subgroup categories can be rolled-up to 
the OMB standard. These new data elements will be used in data analysis 
intended to identify and understand health disparities.
    Likely Respondents: Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program Part A, Part B, 
Part C, and Part D grantees and their contracted service providers.
    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    Total burden
                                    respondents     respondent       responses      (in hours)         hours
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Grantee Report..................             595               1             595               7           4,165
Provider Report.................            1793               1            1793              17          30,481
Client Report...................            1312               1            1312              67          87,904
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    Total.......................            3700  ..............            3700              91         122,550
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    Dated: March 26, 2014.
Jackie Painter,
Deputy Director, Division of Policy and Information Coordination.
[FR Doc. 2014-07491 Filed 4-3-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P