[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 222 (Monday, November 20, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 55107-55108]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25049]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Indian Health Service


Request for Public Comment: 60 Day Notice for Extension of the 
Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program

AGENCY: Indian Health Service, HHS.

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

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Indian Health Service (IHS) invites the general public to take this 
opportunity to comment on the information collection Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) Control Number 0917-0014, titled, ``IHS 
Loan Repayment Program (LRP).''
    This previously approved information collection project was last 
published in the Federal Register (80 FR 23558) on April 28, 2015, and 
allowed 60 and 30 days for public comment. No public comment was 
received in response to the notices. This notice announces our intent 
to submit this collection, which expires July 31, 2018, to OMB for 
approval of an extension and solicit 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_FRDOC_0001).

DATES: Consideration will be given to all comments received by January 
19, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to Jackie Santiago by one of the following 
methods:
     Mail: Jackie Santiago, Chief, Loan Repayment Program, 5600 
Fishers Lane, Mail Stop: 11E53A, Rockville, MD 20857.
     Phone: 301-443-2486.
     Email: [email protected].
     Fax: 301-443-4815.
    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: To request additional information, 
please contact Evonne Bennett-Barnes, Information Collection Clearance 
Officer at: [email protected] or 301-443-4750.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The IHS is submitting the proposed 
information collection to OMB for review, as required by section 
3507(a)(1)(D) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This notice is 
soliciting comments from members of the public and affected agencies as 
required by 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A) concerning the proposed collection 
of information to: (1) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of 
information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of 
the agency, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) Evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the 
burden of the proposed collection of information; (3) Enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected; and 
(4) Minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who 
are to respond; including through the use of appropriate automated 
collection techniques of other forms of information technology, e.g., 
permitting electronic submission of responses.
    Title: 0917-0014, ``Indian Health Service Loan Repayment Program.''
    Type of Information Collection Request: Three year extension 
approval of this information collection.
    OMB Control Number: 0917-0014.
    Forms: Educational and Professional Background, Financial 
Information, and General Applicant Information (i.e. all forms are part 
of the LRP application). The LRP application is available in an 
electronically fillable and fileable format.
    Need and Use of Information Collection: The IHS LRP identifies 
health professionals with pre-existing financial obligations for 
education expenses that meet program criteria and who are qualified and 
willing to serve at, often remote, IHS health care facilities. Under 
the program, eligible

[[Page 55108]]

health professionals sign a contract through which the IHS agrees to 
repay part or all of their indebtedness in exchange for an initial two-
year service commitment to practice fulltime at an eligible Indian 
health program. This program is necessary to augment the critically low 
health professional staff at IHS health care facilities.
    Eligible health professionals wishing to have their health 
education loans repaid may apply to the IHS LRP. A two-year contract 
obligation is signed by both parties, and the individual agrees to work 
at an eligible Indian health program location and provide health 
services to American Indian and Alaska Native individuals.
    The information collected via the on-line application from 
individuals is analyzed and a score is given to each applicant. This 
score will determine which applicants will be awarded each fiscal year. 
The administrative scoring system assigns a score to the geographic 
location according to vacancy rates for that fiscal year and also 
considers whether the location is in an isolated area. When an 
applicant accepts employment at a location, the applicant in turn 
``picks-up'' the score of that location.
    Status of the Proposed Information Collection: Renewal of a current 
collection.
    Affected Public: Individuals and households.
    Type of Respondents: Individuals.
    The table below provides: Types of data collection instruments, 
Estimated number of respondents, Number of responses per respondent, 
Annual number of responses, Average burden hour per response, and Total 
annual burden hour(s).

                                             Estimated Burden Hours
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                                                                  Number of     Average  burden    Total annual
        Data collection instrument(s)            Number of      responses per     per response    responses (in
                                                respondents       respondent       (in hours)         hours)
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LRP Application (3 forms in total)..........           1,726                1              1.5            2,589
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    There are no Capital Costs, Operating Costs, and/or Maintenance 
Costs to report.

RADM Michael D. Weahkee,
Assistant Surgeon General, U.S. Public Health Service, Acting Director, 
Indian Health Service.
[FR Doc. 2017-25049 Filed 11-17-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4165-16-P