[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 23 (Wednesday, February 4, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6094-6096]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-02081]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

    In compliance with Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995 concerning opportunity for public comment on proposed 
collections of information, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health 
Services Administration (SAMHSA) will publish periodic summaries of 
proposed projects. To request more information on the proposed projects 
or to obtain a copy of the information collection plans, call the 
SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer on (240) 276-1243.
    Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the agency, including whether the information shall have practical 
utility; (b) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection of information; (c) ways to enhance the

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quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(d) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on 
respondents, including through the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.

Project: Addiction Technology Transfer Centers (ATTC) Network National 
Workforce Surveys--NEW

    The ATTC Network, a nationwide, multidisciplinary resource that 
draws upon the knowledge, experience and latest research of recognized 
experts in the field of addictions and behavioral health, is a unique 
Center Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT) initiative formed in 1993 in 
response to a shortage of well-trained addiction and behavioral health 
professionals in the public sector. The ATTC Network works to enhance 
the knowledge, skills and aptitudes of the addiction/behavioral health 
treatment and recovery services workforce by disseminating current 
health services research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 
National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, National Institute 
of Mental Health, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National 
Institute of Justice, and other sources, as well as other SAMHSA 
programs. To accomplish this, the ATTC Network: (1) Develops and 
updates state-of-the-art research based curricula and professional 
development training, (2) coordinates and facilitates meetings between 
Single State Authorities, Provider Associations and other key 
stakeholders, and (3) provides ongoing technical assistance to 
individuals and organizations at the local, regional and national 
levels.
    In response to the emerging shortages of qualified addiction 
treatment and recovery services professionals, SAMHSA/CSAT instructed 
the ATTC National Office to lead the ATTC Network in the development 
and implementation of a national addiction treatment workforce data 
collection effort of those individuals who work in substance use 
specialty treatment services. The purpose of this survey and data 
collection is to gather information to guide the formation of effective 
national, regional, state, and organizational policies and strategies 
aimed at successfully recruiting and retaining a sufficient number of 
adequately prepared providers who are able to respond to the growing 
needs of those affected by substance use and mental health disorders; 
including co-occurring disorders and trauma. This data collection will 
offer a unique perspective on the clinical treatment field so that CSAT 
and the ATTC Network can better understand current successful 
strategies and methodologies being used in the workforce and develop 
appropriate training for emerging trends in the field.
    Although SAMHSA/CSAT is the primary target audience for data 
collection findings, it is expected that the data collected and 
resulting reports will also be useful to the ATTC Network, as well as 
to Single State Agencies, provider organizations, professional 
organizations, training and education entities, and individuals in the 
workforce.

Overview of Data Collection and Purposes

    Data will be collected from two main sources: (1) Interviews with 
Single State Authorities (SSAs) in all fifty states (2) A national 
sample of agency directors or their designees, identified by CSAT in 
conjunction with the ATTC network, in the substance use disorders 
treatment field. Respondents will be asked to participate in telephone 
interviews. In addition to this original data collection, existing 
national data sets will also be utilized. Such data systems will 
include:
     Census 2000 datasets
     National Survey of Substance Abuse Treatment Services (N-
SSATS)
     SAMHSA Treatment Gap Projection Analysis
     Treatment Episode Data
     Bureau of Labor datasets such as Current Employment 
Statistics
     Annapolis Coalition Data
    Provider Association Survey: The provider association survey will 
be a single question web survey asking association directors to 
nominate providers that they believe are exemplary in recruitment, 
retention or staff development. The purpose of this survey is to 
triangulate responses from three sources, the SSA, the ATTC and the 
provider association to identify providers that are considered by all 
three to be exceptional in their ability to recruit, retain or provide 
staff development for SUD direct service employees.
    State Substance Abuse Authorities Interview: Each state substance 
abuse authority or their designee will be interviewed to identify 
concerns regarding work force development, state level strategies to 
improve recruitment, retention and development of the addiction 
treatment workforce, changes that have occurred within the past five 
years and any treatment organization level practices that they think 
have been particularly successful. They will be asked to identify 
provider organizations that have exemplary practices to interview.
    Program Director/Key Staff Interview: Based on identification by 
state SSA, state provider association nomination and ATTC/CSAT staff 
identification, a minimum of 60 addiction treatment provider 
organizations will be selected for telephone interviews. These 
organizations may be specialty addiction treatment programs, community 
mental health centers that provide addiction treatment services or 
primary care organizations that provide addiction treatment services. 
The purpose of these interviews is to identify exemplary practices in 
recruitment, retention and staff development for direct service staff 
working with patients with SUDs. An interview script has been developed 
to guide the question formation for the interviews.

Overview of Questions Related to Data Collection

    The objectives of the national addiction treatment workforce data 
collection effort are to explore issues related to workforce 
development: (1) Staff training, recruitment and retention; (2) 
Professional development; and (3) Support for strategies and 
methodologies to prepare, recruit, retain, and sustain the workforce. 
To accomplish these objectives, CSAT outlined two primary questions to 
be addressed by the workforce data collection:

1. What are the anticipated workforce development needs for 2017-2022?

    For the purposes of this data collection, the ATTC Network will 
identify the growth and capacity-building needs over the next five 
years of direct care staff, clinical supervisors, and administrators in 
agencies represented in the I-SATS registry.

2. What are the common strategies and methodologies to prepare, retain, 
and maintain the workforce?

    Identification of potentially effective strategies used to prepare 
and recruit individuals to enter the workforce (as previously defined), 
and encourage them to remain in the workforce and stay current on 
clinical and other job related skills (e.g., evidence based practices).
    Information collected from this workforce data collection will help 
CSAT and the ATTC Network to better understand the needs of the 
workforce and categorize some best practices for providing support to 
the field now and in the future. Emerging trends in addiction and/or 
co-occurring and

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trauma treatment and the existence of mental health problems in 
substance use disorder treatment and recovery services will be 
identified and shared with those in the addiction/behavioral health 
treatment field so appropriate training and funding can be allocated. 
The information from this data collection will also help CSAT identify 
areas where deficiencies in substance use and/or co-occurring disorder 
and trauma treatment exist and provide assistance to regions (and 
states) to help them develop and adopt strategies for addressing this.
    The chart below summarizes the annualized burden for this project.

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                                                               Responses      Total                     Total
               Type of respondent                 Number of       per       number of    Hours per      burden
                                                 respondents   respondent   responses     response      hours
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SSA telephone interview........................           60            1           60            1           60
Provider Organization Key Staff Telephone                 60            1           60            1           60
 Interviews....................................
Provider Association Survey....................           50            1           50          .25         12.5
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    Total......................................          170  ...........          170  ...........        132.5
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    Send comments to Summer King, SAMHSA Reports Clearance Officer, 
Room 2-1057, One Choke Cherry Road, Rockville, MD 20857 or email her a 
copy at [email protected]. Written comments should be received 
by April 6, 2015.

Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2015-02081 Filed 2-3-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P