[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 216 (Tuesday, November 8, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 78601-78602]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-26924]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Public Comment Request; Evaluation of the State Health Insurance 
Assistance Program (SHIP)

AGENCY: Administration for Community Living, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living (ACL) is announcing 
that the proposed collection of information listed above has been 
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and 
clearance under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.

DATES: Comments must be received by December 8, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by 
fax 202.395.5806 or by email to [email protected], Attn: OMB 
Desk Officer for ACL.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Katherine Glendening by phone: 202-
795-7350 or email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with section 44 U.S.C. 3507, 
ACL has submitted the following proposed collection of information to 
OMB for review and clearance.
    Proposed Collection: Evaluation of the State Health Insurance 
Assistance Program (SHIP), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
(HHS), U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL).
    Need and Use of Information Collection: The SHIP Customer 
Satisfaction Survey is a survey of individuals who meet with State 
Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) Counselors to better 
understand their Medicare options. SHIP provides free, one-on-one 
counseling to the public, and the SHIP Customer Satisfaction Survey 
will be used to measure individuals' satisfaction with their counseling 
experience.
    The State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) was created 
under Section 4360 of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (OBRA) of 
1990 (P.L. 101-508). SHIP was created to provide grant funding to 
states/territories, who in turn provide ``. . . information, 
counseling, and assistance . . . to individuals who are eligible to 
receive benefits under title XVIII of the Social Security Act'' 
(Medicare). SHIP grants help Medicare beneficiaries and their families 
to obtain information about topics, such as Medicare enrollment (Parts 
A and B), Medicare Advantage plans (Part C), prescription drug coverage 
(Part D), Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs), supplemental insurance 
policies (Medigap), Medicaid issues, and other health insurance issues. 
The survey will gauge individuals' satisfaction with the services 
provided by SHIP counselors. While the SHIP program currently tracks 
the number of contacts the program makes with individual citizens, as 
well as descriptive information about counseling sessions such as 
topic, location, and beneficiary demographics, the program does not 
track outcome measurements, including customer satisfaction.

Comments in Response to the 60-Day Federal Register Notice

    A notice was published in the Federal Register in Vol. 81, No. 124/
Tuesday, June 28, 2016, Pages 41974-41975, announcing that ACL was 
requesting approval of a data collection (ICR New). No comments were 
received.

Estimated Data Burden

    The SHIP survey will be conducted over a three-year period 
beginning in Fiscal Year 2017 (FY 2017), with sites in each of the 50 
states, the District of Columbia and the territories of Guam, Puerto 
Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands being surveyed once during the three-
year period. Results from the surveys

[[Page 78602]]

will be used to understand satisfaction among individuals who receive 
SHIP Medicare assistance/counseling, as well, as how the program can be 
improved to provide better service to its target population. Eighteen 
(18) unique states/territories will be surveyed in FY 2017, with each 
state/territory expected to generate 75 unique responses, for a total 
of 1,350 individual responses in Year 1. This process will then be 
replicated in Year 2 (FY 2018) and Year 3 (FY 2019), with a different 
unique group of 18 states and territories being surveyed each year. By 
the end of FY19, SHIP will obtain 4,050 completed surveys to measure 
satisfaction at the state and national levels (18 states/territories x 
75 responses per state x 3 years). SHIP will use the following factors 
to draw a representative sample of beneficiaries who received 
assistance/counseling:
     Review counseling sessions at two points each year:
    [cir] One week in the spring (outside of the annual Medicare Open 
Enrollment Period)
    [cir] One week in the fall (during the annual Medicare Open 
Enrollment Period)
     Focus only on non-redundant individuals (i.e., a random 
sample without replacement of individuals who receive SHIP counseling).
     Randomly select 18 states and territories to be surveyed 
each year, with the states/territories stratified by data collection 
method* and the size of the Medicare-eligible population.
    * Data collection method refers to how each state/territory 
collects and enters its records of counseling sessions. The majority of 
states/territories (29 of 54) directly enter counseling records into 
SHIP's National Performance Reporting (NPR) system, but the remaining 
states/territories upload data in batches at the end of each month. To 
ensure that the batch upload states/territories will be able to pull 
weekly samples twice per year, we will limit these states/territories 
to Years 2 and 3 of the survey administration period, thereby allowing 
for technical assistance to these states/territories if necessary.
    To generate a sample with a 95% confidence level at the national 
level 384 responses will be required (n = 3,000,000 counseling sessions 
in 2015). SHIP anticipates collecting 75 completed surveys per state/
territory, for a total collection of 4,050 completed surveys over the 
3-year period. This larger collection will enable ACL to make state-to-
state comparisons, which is an important feature of this survey. 
Specifically, state-to-state comparisons will allow ACL to identify 
which states/territories are providing the best services to their 
beneficiaries, and what best practices can be shared across states/
territories. The larger collection will also provide each state/
territory with sufficient information to take local action to improve 
service within budgetary constraints.
    The proposed survey instrument may be viewed on the Web site: 
http://www.acl.gov/Programs/CIP/OHIC/index.aspx.
    OMB approval is requested for 3 years. There are no costs to 
respondents other than their time. The average annual burden associated 
with these activities is summarized below:

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                                                                                Average  burden
                                                 Number of      Responses  per     hours  per     Total  average
               Respondent type                  respondents       respondent        response      annual burden
                                                                                    (hours)          (hours)
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Stratified Random Sample....................           1,350                1             8/60              180
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    Dated: October 27, 2016.
Edwin L. Walker,
Acting Administrator and Assistant Secretary for Aging.
[FR Doc. 2016-26924 Filed 11-7-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4154-01-P