[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 40 (Monday, March 2, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11206-11208]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-04112]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service


Request for Public Comment: 60-Day Notice for Extension of Fast 
Track Generic Clearance for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on 
Agency Service Delivery: IHS Customer Service Satisfaction and Similar 
Surveys

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS.

ACTION: Notice and request for comments. Request for extension of 
approval.

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SUMMARY: The Indian Health Service (IHS), as part of its continuing 
effort to reduce paperwork and respondent burden, invites the general 
public to take this opportunity to comment on the ``Generic Clearance 
for the Collection of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery'' 
for approval under the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 
et. seq.). This collection was developed as part of a Federal 
Government-wide effort to streamline the process for seeking feedback 
from the public on service delivery. This notice announces our intent 
to submit this collection to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for approval and solicits comments on specific aspects for the proposed 
information collection. A copy of the draft supporting statement is 
available at www.regulations.gov (see Docket ID [IHS-2015-0002]).

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by May 1, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Tamara Clay by one of the following 
methods:
     Mail: Tamara Clay, Information Collection Clearance 
Officer, Indian Health Service, 801 Thompson Avenue,

[[Page 11207]]

TMP, STE 450-30, Rockville, MD 20852.
     Phone: 301-443-4750.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 301-443-4750.
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be made 
available to the public by publishing them in the 30 day Federal 
Register notice for this information collection. For this reason, 
please do not include information of a confidential nature, such as 
sensitive personal information or proprietary information. If comments 
are submitted via email, the email address will be automatically 
captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the 
public docket and made available on the Internet. Please note that 
responses to this public comment request containing any routine notice 
about the confidentiality of the communication will be treated as 
public comments that may be made available to the public 
notwithstanding the inclusion of the routine notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tamara Clay through:
     Mail: Tamara Clay, Information Collection Clearance 
Officer, Indian Health Service, 801 Thompson Avenue, TMP, STE 450-30, 
Rockville, MD 20852.
     Phone: 301-443-4750.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 301-443-4750.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Title: Generic Clearance for the Collection 
of Qualitative Feedback on Agency Service Delivery: IHS Customer 
Service Satisfaction and Similar Surveys. Abstract: The proposed 
information collection activity provides a means to garner qualitative 
customer and stakeholder feedback in an efficient, timely manner, in 
accordance with the Administration's commitment to improving service 
delivery. Qualitative feedback is information that provides useful 
insights on perceptions and opinions, but is not statistical surveys 
that yield quantitative results that can be generalized to the 
population of study. This feedback will provide insights into customer 
or stakeholder perceptions, experiences and expectations, provide an 
early warning of issues with service, or focus attention on areas where 
communication, training or changes in operations might improve delivery 
of products or services. These collections will allow for ongoing, 
collaborative and actionable communications between the Agency and its 
customers and stakeholders. It will also allow feedback to contribute 
directly to the improvement of program management.
    The solicitation of feedback will target areas such as: Timeliness, 
appropriateness, accuracy of information, courtesy, efficiency of 
service delivery, and resolution of issues with service delivery. 
Responses will be assessed to plan and inform efforts to improve or 
maintain the quality of service offered to the public. If this 
information is not collected, vital feedback from customers and 
stakeholders on the agency's services will be unavailable.
    The agency will only submit a collection for approval under this 
generic clearance if it meets the following conditions:
     The collections are voluntary;
     The collections are low-burden for respondents (based on 
considerations of total burden hours, total number of respondents, or 
burden-hours per respondent) and are low-cost for both the respondents 
and the Federal Government;
     The collections are non-controversial and do not raise 
issues of concern to other Federal agencies;
     Any collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions 
from respondents who have experience with the program or may have 
experience with the program in the near future;
     Personally identifiable information is collected only to 
the extent necessary and is not retained;
     Information gathered will be used only internally for 
general service improvement and program management purposes and is not 
intended for release outside of the agency;
     Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of 
substantially informing influential policy decisions; and
     Information gathered will yield qualitative information; 
the collections will not be designed or expected to yield statistically 
reliable results or used as though the results are generalizable to the 
population of study.
    Feedback collected under this generic clearance provides useful 
information, but it does not yield data that can be generalized to the 
overall population. This type of generic clearance for qualitative 
information will not be used for quantitative information collections 
that are designed to yield reliably actionable results, such as 
monitoring trends over time or documenting program performance. Such 
data uses require more rigorous designs that address: The target 
population to which generalizations will be made, the sampling frame, 
the sample design (including stratification and clustering), the 
precision requirements or power calculations that justify the proposed 
sample size, the expected response rate, methods for assessing 
potential non-response bias, the protocols for data collection, and any 
testing procedures that were or will be undertaken prior to fielding 
the study. Depending on the degree of influence the results are likely 
to have, such collections may still be eligible for submission for 
other generic mechanisms that are designed to yield quantitative 
results.
    As a general matter, information collections will not result in any 
new system of records containing privacy information and will not ask 
questions of a sensitive nature, such as sexual behavior and attitudes, 
religious beliefs, and other matters that are commonly considered 
private.
    Current Actions: Extension of approval for a collection of 
information.
    Type of Review: Extension.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households, businesses and 
organizations, and Tribal governments.
    Estimated Number of Respondents: 105,000.
    Below are projected annual average estimates for the next three 
years:
    Average Expected Annual Number of Activities: 100.
    Average Number of Respondents per Activity: 1,050.
    Annual Responses: 105,000.
    Frequency of Response: Once per request.
    Average Minutes per Response: 10.
    Burden Hours: 17,500.
    Request for Comments: Comments submitted in response to this notice 
will be summarized and/or included in the request for OMB approval. 
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether the collection of information is 
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 collection of 
information; (c) ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected; (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; and (e) estimates of capital or start-up costs and costs of 
operation, maintenance, and purchase of services to provide 
information. Burden means the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, disclose 
or provide information to or for a Federal agency. This includes the 
time needed to review instructions; to develop, acquire, install and 
utilize technology and systems for the purpose of

[[Page 11208]]

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.
    All written comments will be available for public inspection on 
Regulations.gov.
    An agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required 
to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a 
currently valid OMB control number.
    Comment Due Date: Your comments regarding this information 
collection are best assured of having full effect if received within 30 
days of the date of this publication.

    Dated: February 20, 2015.
Robert G. McSwain,
Acting Director, Indian Health Service.
[FR Doc. 2015-04112 Filed 2-27-15; 8:45 am]
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