[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 102 (Tuesday, May 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24527-24528]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-11050]


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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; Medicare Rural Hospital 
Flexibility Program Performance, OMB No. 0915-0363--Extension

AGENCY: Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), Department 
of Health and Human Services.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 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 June 27, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, including the ICR 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 Lisa Wright-Solomon, the 
HRSA Information Collection Clearance Officer, at [email protected] or 
call (301) 443-1984.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Information Collection Request Title: Medicare Rural Hospital 
Flexibility Program Performance Measures, OMB No. 0915-0363--Extension
    Abstract: This information collection comment request is for 
continued approval of the Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program 
Performance Measures. HRSA is proposing to continue this data 
collection with no changes. The current performance measures are 
collected electronically in the Performance Improvement and Measurement 
System, which awardees access securely through the HRSA Electronic 
Handbooks.
    The Medicare Rural Hospital Flexibility Program (Flex Program) is 
authorized by Section 1820 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395i-
4), as amended. The purpose of the Flex Program is to enable state 
designated entities to support critical access hospitals in quality 
improvement, quality reporting, performance improvement, and 
benchmarking; to assist facilities seeking designation as critical 
access hospitals; and to create a program to establish or expand the 
provision of rural emergency medical services.
    A 60-day Federal Register Notice was published in the Federal 
Register on February 5, 2019, vol. 84, No. 24; pp. 1751-1752. There 
were no public comments.
    Need and Proposed Use of the Information: For this program, 
performance measures were developed to provide data useful to the Flex 
program and to enable HRSA to provide aggregate program data required 
by Congress under the Government Performance and Results Modernization 
Act of 2010 (GPRA). These measures cover principal topic areas of 
interest to the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy including: (a) 
Quality reporting, (b) quality improvement interventions, (c) financial 
and operational improvement initiatives, (d) population health 
management, and (e) innovative care models. Several measures will be 
used for this program and will inform the Office's progress toward 
meeting the goals set in GPRA. Furthermore, obtained information is 
important in identifying and understanding programmatic improvement 
across program areas, as well as guiding future iterations of the Flex 
Program and prioritizing areas of need and support.
    Likely Respondents: Respondents are the Flex Program coordinator 
for the

[[Page 24528]]

states participating in the Flex Program. There are currently 45 states 
participating in the Flex Program.
    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.

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                                                     Number of                    Average burden
            Form name                Number of     responses per       Total       per response    Total burden
                                    respondents     respondent       responses      (in hours)         hours
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Medicare Rural Hospital                       45               1              45              70           3,150
 Flexibility Program............
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    Total Estimated Annualized                45  ..............              45  ..............           3,150
     Burden--Hours..............
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Amy P. McNulty,
Acting Director, Division of the Executive Secretariat.
[FR Doc. 2019-11050 Filed 5-24-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4165-15-P