[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 216 (Monday, November 9, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69234-69235]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-28368]


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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 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.

Proposed Project: Quarterly Progress Reporting and Annual Indirect 
Services Outcome Data Collection for the Minority Substance Abuse/HIV 
Prevention Program (MAI)--NEW

    The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 
(SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) is requesting 
approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the 
collection of quarterly progress information and annual community-level 
outcome data from CSAP's Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) programs.
    This data collection effort supports two of SAMHSA's 6 Strategic 
Initiatives: Prevention of Substance Abuse and Mental Illness and 
Health Care and Health Systems Integration. The grantees funded by the 
MAI and included in this clearance request are:
     Minority Serving Institutions (MSI) in Partnerships with 
Community-Based Organizations (CBO): 84 grantees funded up to three 
years;
     Capacity Building Initiative (CBI): 74 grantees funded up 
to five years.
    MSI CBO grantees are Historically Black Colleges/Universities, 
Hispanic Serving Institutions, American Pacific Islander Serving 
Institutions, or Tribal Colleges/Universities in partnership with 
community based organizations in their surrounding communities. MSI CBO 
grantees are required to provide integrated substance abuse (SA), 
Hepatitis C (HCV), and HIV prevention services to young adults. The CBI 
grantees are community-level domestic, public and private nonprofit 
entities, federally recognized American Indian/Alaska Native Tribes and 
tribal organizations, and urban Indian organizations. CBI grantees will 
use grant funds for building a solid infrastructure for integrated SA, 
HIV, and HCV prevention service provision and implementing evidence-
based prevention interventions using SAMHSA's Strategic Prevention 
Framework (SPF) process. The target population for the CBI grantees 
will be at-risk minority adolescents and young adults. All MAI grantees 
are expected to provide leadership and coordination on the planning and 
implementation of the SPF and to target minority populations, as well 
as other high risk groups residing in communities of color with high 
prevalence of SA and HIV/AIDS.
    The MAI grantees are expected to provide an effective prevention 
process, direction, and a common set of goals, expectations, and 
accountabilities to be adapted and integrated at the community level. 
Grantees have substantial flexibility in choosing their individual 
evidence-based programs, but must base this selection on and build it 
into the five steps of the SPF. These SPF steps consist of assessing 
local needs, building service capacity specific to SA and HIV 
prevention services, developing a strategic prevention plan, 
implementing evidence-based interventions, and evaluating their 
outcomes. Grantees are also required to provide HIV and HCV testing and 
counseling services and referrals to appropriate treatment options. 
Grantees must also conduct ongoing monitoring and evaluation of their 
projects to assess program effectiveness including Federal reporting of 
the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) of 1993, The GPRA 
Modernization Act of 2010, SAMHSA/CSAP National Outcome Measures 
(NOMs), and the Department of Health and Human Services Core HIV 
Indicators.
    The primary objectives of this data collection effort are to:
     Ensure the correct implementation of the five steps of the 
SPF process by maintaining a continuous feedback loop between grantees 
and their POs;
     Promptly respond to grantees' needs for training and 
technical assistance;
     Assess the fidelity with which the SPF is implemented;
     Collect aggregate data on HIV testing to fulfill SAMHSA's 
reporting and accountability obligations as defined by the Government 
Performance and Results Modernization Act (GPRA Modernization Act) and 
HHS's HIV Core Measures;
     Assess the success of the MAI in reducing risk factors and 
increasing protective factors associated with the transmission of the 
Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and other 
sexually-transmitted diseases (STD);
     Measure the effectiveness of evidence-based programs and 
infrastructure development activities such as: outreach and training, 
mobilization of key stakeholders, substance abuse and HIV/AIDS 
counseling and education, testing, referrals to appropriate medical 
treatment, and other intervention strategies (e.g., cultural enrichment 
activities, educational and vocational resources, motivational 
interviewing & brief interventions, social marketing, and computer-
based curricula);
     Investigate intervention types and features that produce 
the best outcomes for specific population groups;
     Assess the extent to which access to health care was 
enhanced for population groups and individuals vulnerable to behavioral 
health disparities residing in communities targeted by funded 
interventions;
    These objectives support the four primary goals of the National 
HIV/AIDS Strategy which are: (1) Reducing new HIV infections, (2) 
increasing access to care and improving health outcomes for people 
living with HIV/AIDS, (3) reducing HIV-related disparities and health 
inequities, and (4) achieving a coordinated national response to the 
HIV epidemic.
    The Quarterly Progress Reporting (QPR) Tool is a modular instrument 
structured around the SPF. Each section or module corresponds to a SPF 
step with an additional section dedicated to cultural competence and 
efforts to address behavioral health disparities, which is an 
overarching principle of the

[[Page 69235]]

framework guiding every step. Grantees provide quarterly reports of 
their progress through the SPF. Each quarter's report consists of 
updates to the module(s) corresponding to the SPF steps that the 
grantee worked on during that quarter. Grantees are required to report 
on their activities, accomplishments, and barriers associated with 
cultural competence and reduction of health disparities twice a year, 
as part of the second- and fourth-quarter progress reports. Data on 
HIV/HCV testing and hepatitis vaccination are reported only in the 
aggregate (e.g. numbers tested and percent of tests that were 
positive). No individual-level information is collected through this 
instrument.
    The Indirect Services Outcomes Data Tool collects annual data on 
community-level outcome measures. These data typically come from 
existing sources such as ongoing community surveys and administrative 
data collected by local agencies and institutions such as law 
enforcement, school districts, college campuses, hospitals, and health 
departments. The data are submitted to SAMHSA in the form of community-
level averages, percentages, or rates, and are used to assess the 
grantees' success in changing community norms, policies, practices, and 
systems through environmental strategies and information dissemination 
activities. As with the QPR, no individual-level information is 
collected through this instrument.
    The third data collection instrument for which approval is being 
sought is intended to collect FY 2015 data on the HIV testing 
activities of the grantees. It will be used once only, immediately 
after the system goes online, in order to collect data for two of the 
seven HHS Core Indicators that SAMHSA/CSAP has agreed to report. 
Although this statement refers to it as a separate instrument for 
purposes of clarity in burden estimation, it has the same data fields 
as the HIV Testing Implementation section of the main Quarterly 
Progress Report tool and differs only in its reporting timeframe.
    Although the main purpose of this data collection effort is to 
provide a standard and efficient system for SAMHSA's project officers 
to maintain a feedback loop with the grantees that they manage and to 
respond to training and technical assistance needs in a timely fashion, 
the data will also be incorporated into the national cross-site 
evaluation. By combining this grantee-level implementation information 
and community-level outcome data with participant-level pre-post data, 
SAMHSA will be able to identify interventions and intervention 
combinations that produce the most favorable outcomes at the individual 
and community levels, and to investigate the interaction between 
participant- and grantee-level factors in predicting positive outcomes.
    Respondent burden has been limited to the extent possible while 
allowing SAMHSA project officers to effectively manage, monitor, and 
provide sufficient guidance to their grantees, and for the cross-site 
evaluation to reliably assess program outcomes and successful 
strategies. The following table displays estimates of the annualized 
burden for data collected through the Quarterly Progress Reporting and 
Indirect Services outcomes data collection tools.

                                                           Estimates of Annualized Hour Burden
                                               Exhibit 1--Total Estimated Annualized Burden by Instrument
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                                             Number of     Responses per       Total         Hours per     Total burden                     Total hour
       Type of respondent activity          respondents     respondent       responses       response          hours         Wage rate         cost
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Quarterly Progress Report...............             158               4             632               4           2,528          $21.79         $55,085
Indirect Services Outcomes..............             158               1             158               2             316           21.79           6,886
HIV Testing Retrospective Reporting Tool              50             1/3           16.67            0.25            4.17           21.79              91
 
    Total...............................             158  ..............          806.67  ..............           2,848  ..............          62,062
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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 January 8, 2016.

Summer King,
Statistician.
[FR Doc. 2015-28368 Filed 11-6-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4162-20-P