[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 241 (Wednesday, December 16, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78236-78237]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-31642]


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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.

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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) 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 January 
15, 2016.

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: 
    Information Collection Request Title: Shortage Designation 
Management System
    OMB No. 0915-xxxx--NEW
    Abstract: HRSA's Bureau of Health Workforce (BHW) is committed to 
improving the health of the nation's underserved communities and 
vulnerable populations by developing, implementing, evaluating, and 
refining programs that strengthen the nation's health workforce. The 
Department of Health and Human Services relies on two federal shortage 
designations to identify and dedicate resources to areas and 
populations in greatest need of providers: Health Professional Shortage 
Area (HPSA) designations and Medically Underserved Area/Medically 
Underserved Population (MUA/P) designations. HPSA designations are 
geographic areas, population groups, and facilities that are 
experiencing a shortage of health professionals. MUA/P designations are 
areas, or populations within areas, that are experiencing a shortage of 
health care services. MUAs are designated for the entire population of 
a particular geographic area. MUP designations are limited to 
particular groups of underserved people within an area. These 
designations are currently used in a number of Departmental programs 
that provide both federal and state government grant/program benefits 
for communities, health care facilities, and providers. BHW has the 
responsibility for designating and de-designating HPSAs and MUA/Ps on 
behalf of the Secretary.
    HPSA designations are required to be reviewed and updated annually 
to reflect current data. Individual states--through their Primary Care 
Office (PCO)--have primary responsibility for initiating an application 
for a new or updated HPSA designation, or withdrawing HPSAs that no 
longer meet the designation criteria. HRSA reviews the application and 
makes the final determination on the HPSA designation. Requests come 
from the PCOs who have access to the online application and review 
system, Shortage Designation Management System (SDMS). Requests that 
come from other sources are referred to the PCOs for their review and 
concurrence. In addition, interested parties, including the Governor, 
the State Primary Care Association, and state professional associations 
are notified of each request submitted for their comments and 
recommendations.
    In order to obtain a federal shortage designation for an area, 
population, or facility, PCOs must submit a shortage designation 
application through SDMS for review and approval by BHW. Both the HPSA 
and MUA/P applications request local, state, and national data on the 
population that is experiencing a shortage of health professionals and 
the number of health professionals relative to the population covered 
by the proposed designation. The information collected on the 
applications is used to determine which areas, populations, and 
facilities have shortages.
    The lists of designated HPSAs are annually published in the Federal 
Register. In addition, lists of HPSAs are updated on the HRSA Web site, 
http://www.hrsa.gov/shortage/, so that interested parties can access 
the information.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: The need and purpose of 
this information collection is to obtain information to designate HPSAs 
and MUA/Ps. The information obtained from the SDMS is used to determine 
which areas, populations, and facilities have critical shortages of 
health professionals. The SDMS HPSA application and SDMS MUA/P 
application are used for these designation determinations. Applicants 
must submit a SDMS application to BHW to obtain a federal shortage 
designation. The application asks for local, state, and national data 
required for determining the application's eligibility to obtain a 
federal shortage designation. In addition, applicants must enter 
detailed information explaining how the area, population, or facility 
faces a critical shortage of health professionals.
    Likely Respondents: State PCOs interested in obtaining a primary 
care, dental, or mental HPSA designation or a MUA/P in their state.
    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.

[[Page 78237]]



                                    Total Estimated Annualized Burden--Hours
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                                                                                      Average
                                     Number of       Number of         Total        burden per     Total burden
            Form name               respondents    responses per     responses     response  (in       hours
                                                    respondent                        hours)
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Designation Planning and                      54              57           3,078           23.40       72,025.20
 Preparation....................
SDMS Application................              54              57           3,078           11.33       34,873.74
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
    Total.......................              54              57           3,078           34.73      106,898.94
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Jackie Painter,
Director, Division of the Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2015-31642 Filed 12-15-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4165-15-P