[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 100 (Friday, May 23, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29785-29786]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-12044]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

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 June 23, 
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: When submitting comments or requesting 
information, please include the information request collection title 
for reference.
    Information Collection Request Title: Small Health Care Provider 
Quality Improvement Program. OMB No. 0915-xxxx--NEW.
    Abstract: This program is authorized by Title III, Public Health 
Service Act, Section 330A(g) (42 U.S.C. 254c(g)), as amended by Section 
201, Public Law 107-251, and Section 4, Public Law 110-355. This 
authority directs the Office of Rural Health Policy (ORHP) to support 
grants that expand access to, coordinate, contain the cost of, and 
improve the quality of essential health care services, including 
preventive and emergency services, through the development of health 
care networks in rural and frontier areas and regions. Across these 
various programs, the authority allows HRSA to provide funds to rural 
and frontier communities to support the direct delivery of health care 
and related services, to expand existing services, or to enhance health 
service delivery through education, promotion, and prevention programs.
    The purpose of the Small Health Care Provider Quality Improvement 
Grant (Rural Quality) Program is to provide support to rural primary 
care providers for implementation of quality improvement activities. 
The goal of the program is to promote the development of an evidence-
based culture and delivery of coordinated care in the primary care 
setting. Additional objectives of the program include: Improved health 
outcomes for patients; enhanced chronic disease management; and better 
engagement of patients and their caregivers. Organizations 
participating in the program are required to utilize an evidence-based 
quality improvement model, perform tests of change focused on 
improvement, and use health information technology (HIT) to collect and 
report data. HIT may include an electronic patient registry (EPR) or an 
electronic health record (EHR), and is a critical component for 
improving quality and patient outcomes. With HIT it is possible to 
generate timely and meaningful data, which helps providers track and 
plan care.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: ORHP collects this 
information to quantify the impact of grant funding on access to health 
care, quality of services, and improvement of health outcomes. ORHP 
uses the data for program improvement and grantees use the data for 
performance tracking and improvement.
    Summary of Prior Comments and Agency Response: A 60-day Federal 
Register Notice was published in the Federal Register on February 11, 
2014. See, 79 FR 8201. There were no comments.
    Likely Respondents: The respondents will be grantees of the Small 
Health Care Provider Quality Improvement Program.
    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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                      Average
                                     Number of       Number of         Total        burden per     Total burden
            Form name               respondents    responses per     responses     response  (in       hours
                                                    respondents                       hours)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Performance Improvement and                   30               2              60               8             480
 Measurement System (PIMS)
 Database.......................
                                 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................              30               2              60               8             480
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



[[Page 29786]]

    Dated: May 19, 2014.
Bahar Niakan,
Director, Division of Policy and Information Coordination.
[FR Doc. 2014-12044 Filed 5-22-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P