[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 77 (Tuesday, April 22, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22504-22505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-09193]


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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 22, 
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: Healthy Start Evaluation and 
Quality Assurance OMB No. 0915-0338--Revision
    Abstract: The National Healthy Start Program, funded through the 
Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA's) Maternal and 
Child Health Bureau (MCHB), has the goal of reducing disparities in 
infant mortality and adverse perinatal outcomes. The program began as a 
demonstration project with 15 grantees in 1991 and has expanded over 
the past 2 decades to 105 grantees serving 196 communities across 39 
states. Healthy Start grantees operate in communities with rates of 
infant mortality at least 1.5 times the U.S. national average and high 
rates for other adverse perinatal outcomes. These communities are 
geographically, racially, ethnically, and linguistically diverse low-
income areas. Healthy Start covers services during the perinatal period 
(before, during, after pregnancy) and follows the woman and infant 
through 2 years after the end of the pregnancy. The next round of 
funding represents a transformation of the program framework from nine 
service and systems core components to five approaches. The five 
approaches are as follows: (1) Improving women's health; (2) promoting 
quality services; (3) strengthening family resilience; (4) achieving 
collective impact; and (5) increasing accountability through quality 
assurance, performance monitoring, and evaluation.
    MCHB seeks to implement a uniform set of data elements for 
monitoring and conduct a mixed-methods evaluation to assess the 
effectiveness of the program on individual, organizational, and 
community-level outcomes. Data collection instruments will include a 
Preconception, Pregnancy, and Parenting Information Form; National 
Healthy Start Program Survey; Community Action Network Survey; Healthy 
Start Site Visit Protocol; and Healthy Start Participant Focus Group 
Protocol.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The purpose of the data 
collection instruments will be to obtain consistent information across 
all grantees about Healthy Start and its outcomes for purposes of 
monitoring, and in-depth information for 15 Healthy Start communities 
and 15 comparison communities to support a rigorous evaluation design. 
The data will be used to: (1) Conduct ongoing performance monitoring of 
the program; (2) provide credible and rigorous evidence of program 
effect on outcomes; (3) assess the relative contribution of the five 
program approaches to individual and community-level outcomes; (4) meet 
program needs for accountability, programmatic decision-making, and 
ongoing quality assurance; and (5) strengthen the evidence-base, and 
identify best and promising practices for the program to support 
sustainability, replication, and dissemination of the program.
    Likely Respondents: Respondents include pregnant women and women of 
reproductive age who are served by the Healthy Start program 
(monitoring) and sampled postpartum women from 15 unfunded 
organizations in comparison communities (evaluation) for the 
Preconception, Pregnancy, and Parenting Information Form; project 
directors and staff for the National Healthy Start Program Survey; 
representatives from partner organizations for the Community Action 
Network Survey; program staff, providers, and partners for the Healthy 
Start Site Visit Protocol; and program participants for the Healthy 
Start Participant Focus Group Protocol.
    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.

[[Page 22505]]



                                    Total Estimated Annualized Burden--Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                     Number of       Number of         Total        burden per     Total burden
            Form name               respondents    responses per     responses     response  (in       hours
                                                    respondent                        hours)
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Preconception, Pregnancy, and             40,675               1          40,675            0.50          20,338
 Parenting Information Form.....
National Healthy Start Program                88               1              88            2.00             176
 Web Survey.....................
CAN member Web Survey...........             225               1             225            0.75             169
Healthy Start Site Visit                      15               1              15            6.00              90
 Protocol.......................
Healthy Start Participant Focus              180               1             180            1.00             180
 Group Protocol.................
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    Total.......................          41,183  ..............          41,183  ..............          20,953
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    Dated: April 15, 2014.
Bahar Niakan,
Director, Division of Policy and Information Coordination.
[FR Doc. 2014-09193 Filed 4-21-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P