[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 177 (Monday, September 14, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55136-55137]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-23033]



[[Page 55136]]

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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Health Resources and Services Administration

Administration for Children and Families


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submission to OMB for 
Review and Approval; Public Comment Request

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration, HHS. 
Administration for Children and Families, 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) and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) 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 October 
14, 2015.

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) 594-
4306.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Information Collection Request Title: The Maternal, Infant, and 
Early Childhood Home Visiting Program Quarterly Data Request.
    OMB No. 0906-xxxx--NEW.
    Abstract: The Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting 
Program (MIECHV), administered by HRSA in close partnership with the 
Administration for Children and Families (ACF), supports voluntary, 
evidence-based home visiting services during pregnancy and to parents 
with young children up to kindergarten entry. States, Territories, 
nonprofit organizations (in some circumstances), and Tribal entities 
are eligible to receive funding from the MIECHV Program and have the 
flexibility to tailor the program to serve the specific needs of the 
communities that they serve.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: In order to continuously 
monitor and provide oversight, quality improvement guidance, and 
technical assistance to MIECHV grantees, HHS is seeking to collect two 
categories of information: Service Utilization Data and Corrective 
Action Benchmark Data. This information will be used to monitor and 
provide continued oversight for grantee performance and to target 
technical assistance resources to grantees.
    Service Utilization Data is made up of four data categories:
    (1) Program Capacity: HHS is seeking to collect information related 
to the overall home visiting service capacity (i.e., number of 
families) that grantees are able to provide to the communities they 
work in, the actual capacity being utilized at certain points in time, 
as well as updates of home visiting enrollment in number of families.
    (2) Place-Based Services: HHS is seeking to collect information to 
identify the geographic areas where home visiting services are being 
provided. Specifically, data on zip code and locally defined 
communities are being requested from MIECHV grantees in order to allow 
grantees an opportunity to provide data that identifies geographic 
areas that are most salient to their respective programs. Currently, 
HHS collects information related to service area zip code on an annual 
basis (OMB-0915-0357, expiration 7/31/2017). HHS plans to allow the 
grantee to describe the service community at the neighborhood, town, or 
city level where services are provided based on their judgment of local 
salience, rather than solely at the county level, which is how 
geographic services are currently reported.
    (3) Family Engagement: Currently HHS collects information related 
to family engagement (attrition) on an annual basis (OMB-0915-0357, 
expiration 7/31/2017). However, HHS has learned through grants 
monitoring and technical assistance efforts that family engagement is 
an ongoing and complex issue for home visiting service providers. In 
order to monitor grantee performance and target technical assistance 
efforts most effectively, HHS proposes that, in addition to annual 
reporting, MIECHV grantees will report quarterly on the existing family 
engagement metrics they are currently required to submit to HHS. These 
metrics are currently defined as the number of participants currently 
receiving services who have completed the program, who stopped services 
before completion, and other participants.
    (4) Staff Recruitment and Retention: HHS is seeking to collect 
information related to the number of home visitors and other support 
staff who are currently employed directly or through sub-contracted 
grant funds. Staff recruitment and retention is a key component to the 
successful delivery of home visiting services and to maximizing the 
number of cases each local implementing agency can reach. MIEHCV 
grantees will report quarterly on the actual number of staff and 
current vacancies in three categories: home visitors, home visiting 
supervisors, and other staff.
    Corrective Action Benchmark Data (Improvement Action Benchmark 
Data): Corrective Action Constructs consist of one category of data. 
MIECHV grantees that have not shown improvement in four of six 
Benchmark areas identified in the authorizing legislation after 3 years 
of grant funding are required to complete corrective action plans 
(Improvement Action Technical Assistance Plans), subject to approval by 
the Secretary, in order to show how they plan to achieve improvement in 
deficient areas. Currently HHS collects information related to selected 
Benchmark areas from all MIECHV grantees on an annual basis (OMB-0915-
0357, expiration 7/31/2017). In order to monitor grantee improvement 
toward meeting these Benchmarks, HHS is seeking to collect information 
from grantees on implementation of their Improvement Action Plans on a 
more frequent basis. HHS proposes that state, territory, and nonprofit 
organization grantees with Improvement Action Plans report the 
Benchmark measures for which they were deemed as not showing 
improvement on a quarterly basis. It is estimated that approximately 9 
grantees per year will require this more frequent reporting. Tribal 
grantees that did not demonstrate improvement after 3 years will 
continue to develop program improvement plans as currently required.
    Likely Respondents: MIECHV grantees.
    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

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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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Service Utilization Form--State,         \1\ 125               4             500              24          12,000
 Territory, and Tribal MIECHV
 Grantees.......................
Improvement Action Benchmark               \2\ 9               4              36              40           1,440
 Form--State and Territory
 MIECHV Grantees................
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    Total.......................             125  ..............             536  ..............          13,440
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\1\ This figures includes two responses for jurisdictions which received both formula and competitive funding in
  FY 2015.
\2\ Only includes MIECHV state, territory, and non-profit grantees that did not demonstrate improvement in 4 of
  6 Benchmark areas after 3 years of grant funding.


    Dated: September 2, 2015.
Jackie Painter,
Director, Division of the Executive Secretariat, Health Resources and 
Services Administration.
Robert Sargis,
Reports Clearance Officer, Administration for Children and Families.
[FR Doc. 2015-23033 Filed 9-11-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P