[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 42 (Monday, March 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7379-7381]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-03847]


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DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES

Administration for Community Living

[OMB #0985-0059]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request; Data Collection Materials for the Annual Performance 
Reporting of the Administration for Community Living's American Indian, 
Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiian Programs

AGENCY: Administration for Community Living (ACL), HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The Administration for Community Living 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 as 
required under Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. This 30-Day notice 
collects comments on the information collection requirements related to 
the Revision of a Currently Approved Collection (ICR Rev) and solicits 
comments on the information collection requirements related to the 
annual Program Performance Report (PPR) for the American Indian, 
Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiian Programs under Title VI of the 
Older Americans Act.

DATES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by 
April 3, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments on the collection of information by:

(a) Email to: [email protected], Attn: OMB Desk Officer for 
ACL;

[[Page 7380]]

(b) fax to 202.395.5806, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACL; or
(c) by mail to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, 
New Executive Office Bldg., 725 17th St. NW, Rm. 10235, Washington, DC 
20503, Attn: OMB Desk Officer for ACL.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kristen Hudgins, Social Science 
Analyst, Administration for Community Living, Washington, DC 20201, 
202-795-7732 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In compliance with 44 U.S.C. 3507, ACL has 
submitted the following proposed collection of information to OMB for 
review and clearance. The data collection materials for the annual 
performance data for the Administration for Community Living's American 
Indian, Alaskan Natives and Native Hawaiian Programs (OAA Title VI) is 
a revision of a currently approved annual program performance data 
collection (OMB# 0985-0059). These data collection materials have been 
updated to better align with comparable data collected for ACL's other 
nutritional, supportive, and caregiving grants. Proposed changes 
include adding data components and updating others for more accurate 
reporting of persons served and activities provided through the Title 
VI-funded programs. The revised data collection will provide data 
necessary to determine the effectiveness of the program. Some examples 
of these changes are updating definitions in Title VI to be more in 
line with Title III, asking for unduplicated numbers of people served 
for different services and the number of hours spent providing said 
services. Additionally, the caregiver portion of the PPR has been 
updated to collect more information around types of caregivers served 
and unduplicated numbers of caregivers. Another element added has to do 
with information on expenditures. This data collection will also 
support ACL in tracking performance outcomes and efficiency measures 
with respect to the annual and long-term performance targets 
established in compliance with the Government Performance Results 
Modernization Act (GPRAMA).

Comments in Response to the 60-Day Federal Register Notice

    A notice was published in the Federal Register on August 15, 2018, 
Vol. 83, No. 158, pp. 40519-40520. ACL received comments from ten (10) 
organizations and two (2) individuals about the Program Performance 
Report (PPR) redesign. ACL reviewed all of the comments. However, some 
of the comments were deemed to not be relevant because they were: (a) 
About the data submission process itself; (b) did not request a change; 
(c) only related to format; or (d) indicated topics for technical 
assistance and training for the final data collection. For ease of 
review, the remaining comments and their responses have been grouped by 
topic or issue. The ACL responses for each topic/issue are detailed 
below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Topic/issue                 Comment            ACL response
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Additional comment boxes for  One of the comments   ACL has added a
 story telling.                was to include a      comment box at the
                               comment box to the    end of the PPR for
                               PPR to allow for      program staff to
                               programs to better    share contextual
                               share their stories.  information about
                                                     how their program
                                                     is addressing the
                                                     needs of Elders in
                                                     their community.
Additional data reporting...  There were some       Although ACL
                               concerns expressed    understands that
                               around having to      reporting can be a
                               keep track of and     burdensome process,
                               report additional     having better and
                               data.                 richer data is a
                                                     priority for the
                                                     Title VI program,
                                                     particularly where
                                                     it allows us to
                                                     align with the data
                                                     collection for
                                                     Title III.
``Tribal Organization''.....  There was a           ACL has decided to
                               suggestion posited    use the term
                               by two                ``Grantee Name'' to
                               organizations to      be more inclusive
                               change the term       of tribal
                               ``Tribal              consortia, Native
                               Organization'' to     Hawaiian
                               something more        organizations, and
                               encompassing.         other entities that
                                                     did not feel
                                                     covered under the
                                                     previous term of
                                                     ``Tribal
                                                     Organization''.
Staffing/Volunteers.........  Five organizations    Upon consideration
                               commented that they   of the issues
                               found the prospect    brought up through
                               of collecting data    the FRN comments,
                               on volunteers and     ACL has decided to
                               their hours to be     remove the question
                               an unnecessary        on volunteers and
                               reporting burden.     volunteer hours.
Nutrition Questions.........  There was one         ACL understands that
                               comment noting that   reporting can be a
                               there were too many   burdensome process
                               questions around      and so have updated
                               nutrition education   the questions under
                               and counseling.       ``Other Nutrition
                                                     Services'' to only
                                                     ask one additional
                                                     question regarding
                                                     number of persons
                                                     receiving nutrition
                                                     counseling. In
                                                     keeping with Title
                                                     III's SPR we have
                                                     updated Nutrition
                                                     Education hours to
                                                     ``sessions''.
Meal Mileage................  There were many       ACL has decided to
                               comments (both        remove this
                               positive and asking   question from the
                               for clarification)    PPR and will
                               related to a          consider posing it
                               proposed question     to grantees through
                               around home-          a different data
                               delivered meal        collection source
                               mileage.              at a later date.
Ombudsman...................  Removal of the        ACL will not add an
                               ombudsman question.   ombudsman question
                                                     back into the Title
                                                     VI PPR as official
                                                     ombudsman services
                                                     should be reported
                                                     through the State
                                                     Ombudsman and
                                                     collected in the
                                                     NORS tool. However,
                                                     ACL has decided to
                                                     add in a question
                                                     related to visiting
                                                     nursing homes and
                                                     other assisted
                                                     living facilities
                                                     as we agree that
                                                     these activities
                                                     are important to
                                                     capture.
Other Supportive Services...  Suggestions to add    ACL has decided to
                               space for grantees    add an optional
                               to report on the      text box for
                               types of supportive   programs to share
                               services they         other supportive
                               provide.              services they may
                                                     offer that are not
                                                     currently listed.
Transportation..............  Suggestions to split  ACL appreciates the
                               transportation into   suggestion to
                               assisted and          collect more data
                               unassisted as they    but has decided in
                               are in Title III's    the interest of
                               SPR.                  balancing data
                                                     collection and
                                                     burden to not make
                                                     the distinction
                                                     between the
                                                     different ``types''
                                                     of transportation
                                                     provided by a
                                                     program.

[[Page 7381]]

 
Social Events...............  Question about the    Title III does not
                               purpose of ``social   ask for this
                               events held'' and     information. A
                               whether it would be   social event, as it
                               better to change to   is being defined in
                               ``social/recreation   Title VI, can be
                               events held'' to      recorded as
                               allow cost sharing    ``Other'' in SPR.
                               with Title III.
Finance Section for Part A/B  The comments on the   ACL is sensitive to
                               newly added finance   the burden that may
                               section for Part A/   be caused by asking
                               B were varied and     for new kinds of
                               ran from asking       information from
                               that the question     our grantees, we
                               be removed and        find that requiring
                               others asking for     this information
                               more options to       will allow us to
                               share data.           better advocate for
                                                     our programs and
                                                     their financial
                                                     needs. Based on the
                                                     comments ACL has
                                                     added an optional
                                                     text box for
                                                     grantees to explain
                                                     more about their
                                                     financial
                                                     situations, and has
                                                     also added
                                                     additional options
                                                     under the section
                                                     asking for types of
                                                     funding used.
Caregiver (language)........  Suggestions to        ACL has updated the
                               change some of the    language in this
                               language in the       section to be less
                               caregiver section     wordy and using the
                               to make it clearer.   term ``caregiver''
                                                     rather than
                                                     ``persons'' to make
                                                     it clearer that the
                                                     intended recipients
                                                     of services are
                                                     caregivers and not
                                                     those they care
                                                     for.
Caregiver (Information and    There were a couple   ACL has chosen to
 Assistance).                  of suggestions that   maintain
                               Information and       consistency in this
                               Assistance should     area with Title
                               be separated from     III's SPR and will
                               one another.          ensure that
                                                     training and
                                                     technical materials
                                                     make it clear how
                                                     we are defining
                                                     Information and
                                                     Assistance and how
                                                     to best collect it.
Finance Section for Part C..  Suggestion to not     ACL is sensitive to
                               add the finance       the burden that may
                               section and asking    be caused by asking
                               for the cost of       for new kinds of
                               respite care to be    information from
                               pulled out.           our grantees, we
                                                     find that requiring
                                                     this information
                                                     will allow us to
                                                     better advocate for
                                                     our programs and
                                                     their financial
                                                     needs. ACL chose
                                                     respite care from
                                                     the five required
                                                     services based on
                                                     the thinking that
                                                     the cost of this
                                                     service would be
                                                     easier to track.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The proposed form(s) may be found on the ACL website at https://www.acl.gov/about-acl/public-input.

Estimated Program Burden

    Title VI funding is broken into three categories. Parts A and B are 
for nutritional and supportive programming, and ask for the same 
information. Part A is for American Indian and Alaska Native grantees, 
and Part B is for Native Hawaiian grantees. Part C is for caregiver 
programming. All Part C grantees must have Part A/B funding; but not 
all Part A/B grantees will have Part C programs. Therefore, there are 
270 unique respondents, but only 237 will have to complete all portions 
of the PPR. ACL believes that the increase in burden hours is justified 
by the improved quality of the data and will ultimately improve the 
services provided to Native Elders.

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                                                     Number of     Responses per     Hours per     Annual burden
       Respondent/data collection activity          respondents     respondent       response          hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PPR Part A/B....................................             270               1            1.83           494.1
PPR Part C......................................             237               1            1.66           393.4
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............           887.5
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    Dated: February 22, 2019.
Mary Lazare,
Principal Deputy Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2019-03847 Filed 3-1-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4154-01-P